Emma Regolini Rm1/2
Jennifer Sullivan KUDO Window
Opening 23 July 2021
Exhibition continues until 30 July
Rm 1 & 2 : Emma Regolini
Wish You Were Here comprises 41 original black marker drawings on paper that explore unmitigated grief, loneliness and disconnection. The drawings are serialised by repeated motifs of vases, flowers and abstracted faces and figures—recollections of the weeks following my father’s death when I was fourteen, when I channelled my energy into caring for the condolence flowers being sent to my family’s home. Living in London, away from home, throughout the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was forced to confront the loss with which my teenaged-self couldn’t grapple. At first, this was an absent-minded process, but when I realised the relevance of the symbols becoming evident in my work, my approach intensified. Drawing became a completely immersive experience, a kind of lucid dreaming in which I would transport myself to moments in the past, sit with my younger self, and let her finally feel the loss of her father—our father. I would watch that self tend to the flowers, changing their water, moving them around the house, removing dying ones and rearranging those still living. The resulting works are developed from these early drawings, of which I completed more than 150. They comprise my first body of work produced under my own name, reflecting both a reclamation and maturation of my artistic style and a desire to heal. This year marks ten years since my dad’s death. I wish he was here.
Emma Regolini is an emerging interdisciplinary artist, illustrator and designer, based in Boorloo (Perth). Her work fuses elements of a contemporary drawing practice and digital techniques and platforms. In 2016, Regolini established “The Line”, creating work from existing digital content from other online creators, which led to artistic collaborations with fashion brands. She moved to London in 2019, subsequently spending thirteen months in lockdown and self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, she re-established her offline drawing practice, utilising paper and marker—materials that were readily available to her and were sensible for use in a confined space, unlike paint. This saw an intentional deviation from Regolini’s stylistic work under “The Line”, which she ended in mid-2020, deciding instead to share work under her own name. Regolini maintains a diligent studio practice, spending long hours on detailed drawings that meditate on her own mindscape, life experiences and surrounds.
Regolini has collaborated with brands such as Adobe, Club Monaco, Sydney Women’s March, The Upside and Chillhouse NYC. Her collaborative work has been published in Vogue, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Russh, InStyle Magazine, Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. In 2021, Regolini moved back to Perth, and will host her debut solo show at Pig Melon. - Text by Emma Pegrum
KUDO Window : Jennifer Sullivan
Jennifer Sullivan is a New York-based painter whose painting practice evolved out of roots in performance and video. Recent solo and two-person exhibitions include My Pretty Red Heart, Hans Gallery, Chicago, IL (2020), Devotional Paintings, Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL (2020), Female Sensibility, Five Car Garage (2020), Exiled Parts, No Place Gallery (2019), and Stretch Marks, Real Estate Fine Art (2018). Sullivan has exhibited widely including group exhibitions at Marinaro, Brennan and Griffin, Rod Barton, NADA NY, and Klaus Von Nichtsaggend. Awards include fellowships with Paint School through Shandaken Projects (2020) and at the Fine Arts Work Center (2012-13), and residencies at the Lighthouse Works, Skowhegan, Ox-Bow, and Yaddo. Her work has been reviewed in the NY Times, Brooklyn Rail, Artforum, and Art Papers. She is represented by Five Car Garage in Los Angeles, CA.
Design Leigh Craft.