The evocative drawings and sculptures by Emma Vidal lure the viewer into a world where time is suspended. In this environment human beings are depicted as a tribe of feral children named the “Lost Boys”. Often naked, tattooed with baroque style patterns and graffiti—they appear to be engaged in some sort of quest picking through the detritus of a destroyed civilization to birth a new world built on myth, wonder and mystery.
Born in Marseille, France in 1992, Vidal graduated from The Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design London in 2014 and has exhibited nationally and internationally. She also holds an Art Market master degree from The INSEEC Business School Paris. Since 2016 she has been based in St. Louis, MO where she discovered her love of ceramic in St. Louis studio at the Intersect Arts Center.
In 2018 she was included in Volta Art Basel in Switzerland and DDessin Drawing Art Fair Paris in France. Since 2012, Vidal has been exhibiting her work in prestigious institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum London, Plymouth Arts Center, the Intersect Arts Center St. Louis, the Wellcome Collection Museum London, the Royal West of England Academy Bristol and the Jerwood Space London. Solo exhibitions include the Oneiro Gallery Paris, Hoffman Lachance Contemporary St. Louis and Espace12 Marseille.
Her ceramic and mixed media sculptures as well as her monochromic large charcoal pieces are included in private collections worldwide.
“Nourished by in-depth research on the beginning of collective human history, the future of humankind, and largely influenced by myths, history and literature, I dedicated the last 6 years to the invention of an imaginary future place whose inhabitants consists only of feral children and where mother nature is claiming back her own territory. I continue to chart new corners of this world through golden ceramic divinities, large-scale detailed black and white charcoal drawings, and mixed media sculptures.
Informed by novels such as Lord of the Flies by William Golding; the feral child figure is at the origin of my practice. The innocent, yet beguiling children, named the Lost Boys, are discovering the chaotic world that was left to them. Alone, melancholic and without any authority figures, these characters are silently waiting for a new order. Influenced by the basic human nature, their inner-state and gathering what was left from the past, they seek to forge a new civilization, creating social frameworks and new forms of belief..”
+ Education
2017
- Msc. Art Market & International Negotiation - INSEEC Business School MSc & MBA. Paris, France
2014
- Bachelor of Fine Arts - Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, University of the Arts London, UK
+ Awards
- Signature Art Prize 2015 (longlisted)
- Paul Artspace Residency program 2014
- ING Discerning Eye Award 2014
- Clyde & Co Art Award 2013 (shortlisted)
- Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 (catalogue)
+ Solo Exhibitions
2019
- Lost Boys, Hoffman Lachance Contemporary, St. Louis, MO, USA
2017
- Origines., Espace 12, Marseille, France
2015
- FERAL, Galerie Oneiro, Paris, France
2014
- Gold String, Museum Blue, St. Louis, USA
+ Two-Person Exhibitions
2018
- VOLTA Art Basel, Coates & Scarry Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
- DDESSIN Drawing Art Fair, Galerie Detais, Paris, France
2017
- Etre soi, Vanities Gallery, Paris, France (catalogue)
+ Group Exhibitions
2020
- POSTPONED (Covid-19): Selkirk Auctioneers & Appraisers show, Gallery @555 Washington, St. Louis, MO, USA
- From The Pages 2, Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, USA (in collaboration with Create! Magazine)
2018
- Here//Now, Intersect Arts Center, St. Louis, MO, USA
2017
- L’imaginaire du réel, Saisons Artistiques Infhotep #3, Paris, France
- Au fil des songes, Galerie Le Ballon Rouge, Paris, France (catalogue)
- Ushiwa, Aquarium de Paris, Paris, France
2016
- The Ingram Collection: Not all Contemporary Art is Rubbish, Lightbox Museum, Woking, UK (curated by Jo Baring, former Director of Christie’s UK)
2015
- Always Print the Myth, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
- Drawing On... The Ingram Collection of Modern British and Contemporary Art, RWA Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK
- Vestige, Coates & Scarry Gallery, London, UK
- Spring show, Candid Art Gallery, London, UK
2014
- Clyde & Co Art Award Collection, St. Botolph, London, UK (catalogue)
- ING Discerning Eye, The Mall Galleries, London, UK (curated by Chris Ingram, Founder of the Ingram Collection)
- Drawing Breath, Graham Hunter Gallery, London, UK
- Raw Talent 2014, We. Create. International, London, UK
- Unearthly Synthesis, Never Drawn Asylum Gallery, London, UK
- Central Saint Martins Degree Show, London, UK
2013
- Jerwood Drawing Prize 2013, Jerwood Space, London, UK. Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK. The Gallery, Plymouth College of Art and Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth, UK. Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, UK (catalogue)
- Collection of the Everyday, Wellcome Collection, London, UK
2012
- Poster Production, Portman Gallery. London, UK
2011
- Atelier, YOU-ADS Dupin Gallery, Paris, France
+ Curatorial Projects
2018
- Paul Artspace 18 Review Exhibition, Bermuda Projects, St. Louis, MO, US 2018
- Over the Bridge, Gallery 210, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Memories That We Might Have, 13 rue Rambuteau, Paris, France
- Empreintes, Una Volta Art Center, Bastia, France
2017
- Collage Heads, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Lille, France 2017 Eclosion, Espace Commines, Paris, France
- Au Fil des Songes, Galerie Le Ballon Rouge, Paris, France 2016
2016
- Hatsh sort de sa coquille, Galerie Joseph. Paris, France
- Freedom Hospital, Maacasso, Paris, France