Details:
① Artwork:
We Woke Up Surrounded by Trees
This drawing was created using a ballpoint pen on newsprint, which leaves an indentation as it marks the page. The artist then fills in her contours using waxy crayons. Gossiaux became blind while she was a student at Cooper Union, and now either draws from memory or observes her subjects through touch. The artist often relies on Crayola’s evocative color names like Almond and Piggy Pink; sometimes, she renames the colors to remember them better. This fantastical work depicts the artist's guide dog London, a yellow Labrador retriever, and is ripe with Gossiaux’s signature style—a silly sort of sweetness.
For Gossiaux, her works are representative of the experiences she now has of vision—through dreams, memories and verbal descriptions. The aritst creates works based on internal imagery—relying on her sense of touch as a substitute for sight to recall the shape and scale of a person, place or thing in relation to her body. Through this process, Gossiaux builds emotionally- and psychologically-resonant spaces that are uncanny, humorous, intimate and sincere.
In the artist’s most recent drawings of herself and her guide dog, London, she playfully depicts the deeply personal and symbiotic bond she shares with her non-human companion. Gossiaux describes her relationship with London as being interdependent and transcending the traditional binary between pet and owner—criss-crossing between maternal, spousal, emotional and practical. This work disrupts the hierarchy between humans and non-human species and invites viewers to consider their relationships to the animals around them.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Emilie L. Gossiaux’s multidisciplinary works are created using various methods the artist employs to experience vision—such as through dreams, memories and verbal descriptions. The artist uses internal imagery to create her tactile compositions, relying on her sense of touch as a substitute for sight to recall the shape and scale of a person, place or thing in relation to her body. Gossiaux creates emotionally- and psychologically-resonant spaces that are both uncanny and humorous, as well as intimate and sincere.
BIO:
Emilie L. Gossiaux was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1989. The artist received an MFA from Yale University in Sculpture in New Haven, Connecticut in 2019, and a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art in New York City in 2014.
Solo exhibitions of Gossiaux’s work have taken place at Mother Gallery in Beacon, New York; and FALSE FLAG in New York City.
Group exhibitions that have shown Gossiaux’s work have taken place at: MoMA PS1 in New York City; Museum Für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany; Krannert At Museum in Champaign, Illinois; The Shed in New York City; SculptureCenter in New York City; Golestani in Dusseldorf, Germany; Julius Caesar in Chicago, Illinois; Shin Gallery in New York City; the Cooper Hewitt in New York City; Pippy Houldsworth in London, UK; and the Smithsonian Institute of Art in Washington, D.C.; among others.
Gossiaux is the recipient of several honors and awards, including: the John F. Kennedy Center’s VSA Prize for Excellence in 2013; the Elliot Lash Memorial Prize for Excellence in Sculpture in 2014; a Wynn Newhouse Award in 2018. Gossiaux was selected by the Royal Drawing School to attend the Dumfries House Residency in East Ayrshire, Scotland in 2018.
Gossiaux lives and works in New York City.
This drawing depicts the artist's guide dog London, reflecting the deeply personal and symbiotic bond she shares with her non-human companion. This composition portrays a relationship that transcends the traditional binary between pet and owner—disrupting the hierarchy between humans and non-human species.More
- Framed: 20.5 x 26.0 x 1.2 in.
- Signed
