Emily Hamel Biography
United States, born 1987
Emily Hamel is a visual artist based in Attleboro, MA, with a focus on sublime fantasy portraiture creating symbolic animal and human coalescence.
She uses a variety of finely-honed techniques to create ethereal and, at times photorealistic, work. Her latest series, entitled Unearthed shows a series of women merged with animal and human skeleton parts, reflecting on the cyclical nature of life and the interconnected fortunes of people and animals, both in respect to ecological stability and spirit animal themes in many cultures. The paintings have been created with a mix of different techniques, giving a Surrealist integration of reality and dark fantasy. Hamel uses alcohol ink to create fluid background planes overlaid with detailed oil painting for the figurative imagery.
Influenced by science fiction within art and literature, including H.P. Lovecraft and H.R. Giger, as well as ideas of alchemy, tarot and mysticism, her works are often a dichotomy of beauty in life and symbolic death. She weaves images of skulls, skeletons and the macabre into her compositions.
Her approach brings together a precise, observational drawing practice and imaginative subject matter, united by an atmospheric, whimsical palette of color and pattern.
