Emma Webster's First Petzel Solo Show Features Digital Dioramas and Pastoral Animal Paintings
Emma Webster, a 37-year-old artist, is set to unveil her inaugural solo exhibition at Petzel gallery on April 30. This showcase will highlight her paintings of rural animals, including horses, cows, and dogs, which she describes as "more bovine, and, dare I say, American." In her studio in Los Angeles, she crafts models using clay, pipe cleaners, wire, and ceramics, which she then develops through a detailed multi-step process. Webster constructs maquettes, digitizes them with 3D scanning, and creates digital dioramas in Blender software. For the first time, this digital diorama will be displayed in real-time at Petzel's entrance. Her artistic approach, refined during her MFA at Yale, draws from her experience in set design and interactive advertising, examining themes of power dynamics and passivity.
Key facts
- Emma Webster's first solo exhibition with Petzel opens April 30
- Webster is 37 years old and works from a Los Angeles studio
- The show features paintings of pastoral animals like horses, cows, and dogs
- Webster creates digital dioramas using Blender software from physical maquettes
- The digital diorama will be projected interactively at Petzel's entryway
- Webster earned an MFA from Yale and previously worked in set design and interactive advertising
- Her creative process involves clay, pipe cleaners, wire, ceramics, 3D scanning, and digital rendering
- The exhibition explores themes of passivity, power dynamics, and hybrid identities
Entities
Artists
- Emma Webster
- Ilona Szwarc
Institutions
- Petzel
- Yale
- CULTURED
Locations
- Los Angeles
- United States