Emily Zou
Emily Zou is a Toronto-based Canadian-Chinese multimedia artist, sculptor, illustrator, painter, and maker of earrings. Emily is a 2020 OCAD University alumna with a BFA in Drawing & Painting. She has exhibited her work at Nuit Blanche, the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Mackenzie Investments, Propeller Art Gallery, Northern Contemporary Gallery, Gallery 1313, John B. Aird Gallery, Florence Contemporary Gallery, The Jackalope Contemporary Art Gallery, the University of Toronto, OCAD University, and featured in Existere - Journal of Arts & Literature, and the 2020 Mental Health Europe Empowerment Webinar.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My art practice is deeply rooted in my lifelong struggle with mental health, and even as a child, I found refuge in art making. It is a safe space where I can navigate deeply felt emotions like a puzzle. Across all mediums, a visual language composed of obsessive detail, entanglement, darkness, and light embodies an emotional and turbulent psychological world. I have vivid, surreal, whimsical, and illogical dreams that inspire my drawings and paintings. Beginning in 2020 (because of quarantine and climate anxiety), I played with found materials to declutter my apartment without disposing of anything. This experiment burgeoned into a series of sculptures that symbolize the human experience where chaotic energy, unlikely objects, and trash take on a new life.
My earliest artistic influences include the beautiful hand-drawn and hand-painted illustrations in search-and-find and children’s books. It was a joyous experience to escape into fantastically crafted worlds. Here sprouted my adoration for detail and the desire to create a similar search-and-find experience for viewers. As destiny propelled me into city life, 9+ years of crowds, human-made structures, and materialism have made their way into my art, and climate uncertainty fuels my desire to upcycle and inspire people to do the same. I want my art to spark dialogue where our vulnerabilities and fragilities can be shared and seen, for people to see their darkness as a source of strength rather than a deficiency, and for people to see potential in what society defines as “trash.”
Emily Zou is a Toronto-based Canadian-Chinese multimedia artist, sculptor, illustrator, painter, and maker of earrings. Emily is a 2020 OCAD University alumna with a BFA in Drawing & Painting. She has exhibited her work at Nuit Blanche, the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, Mackenzie Investments, Propeller Art Gallery, Northern Contemporary Gallery, Gallery 1313, John B. Aird Gallery, Florence Contemporary Gallery, The Jackalope Contemporary Art Gallery, the University of Toronto, OCAD University, and featured in Existere - Journal of Arts & Literature, and the 2020 Mental Health Europe Empowerment Webinar.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
My art practice is deeply rooted in my lifelong struggle with mental health, and even as a child, I found refuge in art making. It is a safe space where I can navigate deeply felt emotions like a puzzle. Across all mediums, a visual language composed of obsessive detail, entanglement, darkness, and light embodies an emotional and turbulent psychological world. I have vivid, surreal, whimsical, and illogical dreams that inspire my drawings and paintings. Beginning in 2020 (because of quarantine and climate anxiety), I played with found materials to declutter my apartment without disposing of anything. This experiment burgeoned into a series of sculptures that symbolize the human experience where chaotic energy, unlikely objects, and trash take on a new life.
My earliest artistic influences include the beautiful hand-drawn and hand-painted illustrations in search-and-find and children’s books. It was a joyous experience to escape into fantastically crafted worlds. Here sprouted my adoration for detail and the desire to create a similar search-and-find experience for viewers. As destiny propelled me into city life, 9+ years of crowds, human-made structures, and materialism have made their way into my art, and climate uncertainty fuels my desire to upcycle and inspire people to do the same. I want my art to spark dialogue where our vulnerabilities and fragilities can be shared and seen, for people to see their darkness as a source of strength rather than a deficiency, and for people to see potential in what society defines as “trash.”
$13,500.00
Mixed media.
48x67x25"
Mixed media (acrylic paint, a dish rack, recycled wrapping paper, foam core, styrofoam, plastic utensils, canvas, bed sheets, underwear, pillow stuffing, a wooden stretcher, a denim jacket, face mask string, old paintings, produce mesh, shoe hangers, cardboard tubes, projector screen parts, a banana hook rack, a paintbrush holder, cupboard liner, pool noodles, correction tape dispensers, dried glue, resin, staples, velcro hanging strips, reusable bags, a Christmas reindeer headband, etc.)
In 2019, I lived in Scotland, and one thing I miss dearly is its lush green hills and endless mountains. I crave the magic I felt existing in this spiritual space.
As a city-born girl, my land has always been of excess and material. Combining my love for the Scottish highlands and the city, I created a human-sized mountain out of trash. Much of the trash I collected was from the Toronto Eaton Centre, where I worked in retail.