EMILY WOLFE

Born Auckland, 1972
Lives and works in London, UK

1998-2000 Master of Fine Arts, Slade School of Fine Art, University College London
1993-1996 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Art, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Auckland-born Emily Wolfe graduated from the Slade painting school, University College London, in 2001, and has been living in London ever since. Her first subjects back in New Zealand had been shards of pottery, faithfully documenting evidence of past lives. These records then gave way to delicate fabrics, which in turn became filmy drapes and curtains, framing glimpses through windows. Fading light added to the mystery of these private spaces, with their snap-shots of a distant world beyond.

More recently Wolfe has concentrated her gaze on the interior, the corners of time-worn rooms with their peeling wallpaper and scuffed skirtings. Aided by a limited palette and an economical style she captures moments frozen in time, undisturbed by human presence. When one such painting, The Silent Treatment, was selected for the 2006 John Moores Prize Exhibition in Liverpool, Wolfe became only the third New Zealander (after Pat Hanly in 1961and Karl Maughan in 1998) to be a finalist in that prestigious competition’s 43-year history.
- John Fowler

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland, NZ
2009 Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland NZ
2007 Onetwenty Gallery, Ghent, Belgium
2006 Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland NZ
2005 Onetwenty Gallery, Ghent, Belgium
2002 Anna Bibby Gallery, Auckland NZ
1998 Vavasour/Godkin Gallery, Auckland, NZ

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010
Family Viewing, Trajector Artfair, Hotel Bloom, Brussels
2009
East End Academy, The Painting Edition, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2008
Amazing Lace, Pataka Museum of Arts and Culture, Porirua, NZ
2007
Cocheme Fellowship Exhibition, Byam Shaw, London
Art Brussels, Onetwenty Gallery
Jerwood Contemporary Painters, Jerwood Space, London
Winter Exhibition, Contemporary Art Projects, London
2006
John Moores 24, The Walker, Liverpool
2005
Commodity & Delight: Views of Home, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui, NZ
Karin Hanssen/ Emily Wolfe, The Agency Contemporary, London
2004
The Solar Anus, Henry Peacock Gallery, London
2003
Chockerfuckingblocked, Jeffrey Charles, London
2001
Diversions: Recent Acquisitions from the University Collection, Auckland University, NZ
2000
Alive!, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington, NZ
Art Futures, Contemporary Art Society, Barbican, London

AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2006
Cocheme Fellowship, Byam Shaw, London
2000
Cyril Sweett Award, Worshipful Company of Painters and Stainers, London
ACAVA ‘First Base’ studio award, London
Duveen Travel Scholarship, Slade, UCL
1999
Ryoichi Sasakawa Scholarship (Massey University, NZ) for study at the Slade, UCL

2009 Painting: East End Academy, Whitechapel Gallery
2008 Art New Zealand, Number 129, ‘Where the Wild Things Aren’t: The Interior World of Emily Wolfe, Malcom Burgess
2008 Katherine Mansfield’s Short Stories, cover illustration, Vintage, Random House
2007 Jerwood Contemporary Painters Catalogue, Jerwood Charitable Foundation, London
2006 John Moores 24 Catalogue, National Museums, Liverpool
2003 ‘Overview’ Recent New Zealand Painting, Milford Gallery, Dunedin, NZ 2001 ‘ Diversions’, Recent Acquisitions from the University Art Collection, Auckland, NZ ‘Alive!’ Still life into the Twenty-First Century, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington, NZ
2000 The Slade Journal (Vol. 4), London