Emily Vincke

Belgium, °1990

Lives and works in Sint-Niklaas

About her work

In her atelier, Emily Vincke can usually be seen wearing her multicoloured elephant skin: an overall thick with layers of paint. In this atelier - also covered with layers of paint - she creates her own universe. Just by painting, eliminating, scratching, and painting over, an image starts to appear on a chalk ground layer. Emily makes these ground layers herself, because they are crucial for the physical appearance of her works.

"The oil paint reacts quite unexpectedly with these ground layers, like the painting has a will of its own. When I start a new painting, I have a feeling of endless freedom, without any rules or conventions. The first layers are like a chaotic swirl of colours and textures. Mixing colours, experimenting with pigments, oil, solvents ... I want to get to know all the possibilities of paint, what kind of effects I can achieve. I eliminate and paint over. My work changes a lot during the process. Some of my paintings look quite minimalistic, but if you look more closely, you will see a lot of different colours and underlying layers shining through, like a vivid skin. Sometimes I feel like an archaeologist searching for hidden frescos; lost images to rediscover."