About the work

For the Whitechapel Gallery, Emma Hart has created a series of 20 unique ceramic works.

These hanging sculptures are portraits; an open mouth and nose are outlined in two interlocking forms, resembling a precarious Dada-esque typography.  The sculptural harmony is in turn ruptured by messy emotion. An open mouth dangles from the profile of a nose, the bridge of the nose has been pinched, and the bottom of the lip has been pulled, Oh Dear. Hart acknowledges the intrinsic doubt and anxiety in daily life and the precariousness of art-making inviting the viewer to physically experience the works as though they are indeed human substitutes. 

About the artist

Originally trained as a photographer, London-based artist Emma Hart (b. 1974) continues to combine the paraphernalia of image making, actual photographs, film and sound with the added component of fired clay. Her brightly glazed ceramic objects and body parts stand in the legacy of Claes Oldenburg’s papier-mâché food sculptures of the 1960s – stacked cheese burgers, cascading ice cream sundaes. Similarly wobbly, over-scaled and cartoonish, Hart’s ceramic jugs, tongues, wine glasses, hands and breasts evoke not only the ephemera of our everyday appetites, but also our emotions. 

Hart’s recent works refer to repeated patterns of human behaviour and their effect on relationships.  The space between viewer and object is charged with the artist’s particularly personal take on her experiences. Intimacy, messiness, and autobiography are key motifs.

Hart was awarded the Max Mara Art Prize for Women in 2017, resulting in a six month residency in three Italian cities and a commission for a large-scale installation at Whitechapel Gallery, entitled Emma Hart: Mamma Mia! (12 July – 3 September 2017).

Selected Exhibitions

Commercial Breakz, Frieze Art Fair, London, UK, 2017; Mamma Mia!, Collezione Maramotti, Reggio Emilia, Italy, 2017; Mamma Mia!, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK, 2017; Giving It All That, Folkestone Triennial, Folkestone, UK, 2014; Love Life, Peer and Grundy Art Gallery, London and Blackpool, UK, 2017; Condo, The Sunday Painter, London, UK, 2017; Lockers, Averard Hotel, London Open, London, UK, 2016; big MOUTH, Grand Union, Birmingham, UK, 2015; Dirty Looks, Camden Arts Centre, London, UK, 2013; TO DO, Matt's Gallery, London, UK, 2012; SUCKERZ, L'Etrangere, London, UK, 2014; Sticky, Austrian Cultural Forum, London, UK, 2015; Car Crash, Gallery Lejeune, London, UK, 2016, and Cell Project Space, London, UK, 2011.