Emma Coulter is a visual artist working across painting, sculpture, installation, and public art. Her work spans bold compositions that explore space, perception and colour. A distinguishing feature of her work is her limited colour palette and geometric designs. Through her repeated use of these same formal elements, Coulter creates a visual language that connects her practice across diverse mediums.
spatial deconstruction #30 (social fabric) breaks down the building’s architectural features and reinterprets them through Coulter’s artistic lens using vibrant colours and sharp forms, creating a composition that is both uniquely Coulter’s, and a distinct reflection on the vertical geometry of SAM.
Jessica O’Farrell, SAM Exhibitions Curator, says of the exhibition:
“Emma Coulter has engaged with the scale and architecture of SAM to create a dynamic new work that reframes our understanding of the building, and the space within it. Her work draws on the idea of SAM being both an ‘art container’ as well as a communal space for gathering and connecting. Emma’s ingenuity in repeatedly using her unique palette of colours to create endless new compositions is fascinating and exciting.
Emma has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally – we’re thrilled to host her in Shepparton while she creates this new artwork that responds to the fabric of SAM. Her work is deliciously bold and colourful, and we hope that visitors to our Level 4 enjoy her Art Wall in the coming months.”
spatial deconstruction #30 (social fabric) will be on display at SAM from 19 August 2023 until May 2024. Entry to SAM is free – view the full list of exhibitions on our website: https://sheppartonartmuseum.com.au/
About Emma Coulter:
Emma Coulter (b. 1978 Northern Ireland) lives and works between Melbourne and Macedon, Victoria. Coulter works with colour in a repetitive way; through a refined colour palette, she creates her own bold, idiosyncratic spectrum. Through abstraction, site-specificity, and colour, her work navigates cultural structures in consideration of art’s place in society.
Coulter holds a Bachelor of Visual Art and the Built Environment from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane (2000), and a Master of Contemporary Art from Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne (2015). Coulter’s works have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Her most recent projects include a large public art commission for Yarrila Place, Coffs Harbour’s new cultural centre (2023); the recent commission of a 130-metre-long ‘spatial deconstruction’, at City Square, Melbourne, for the Metro Tunnel creative program (2021); as well as public art commissions for Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne (2021), and QUT Art Museum, Brisbane (2021). In 2023 Coulter will also realise a significant integrated public artwork within Melbourne’s cultural precinct in South Melbourne. Emma Coulter is represented by James Makin Gallery.
Photo: Emma Coulter with ‘spatial deconstruction #26’ at Footscray Community Arts Centre. Photo by Laura Du Vue, courtesy of the artist.
