Emma Byrne

Artist Statement

 

 

Emma Byrne’s sculptural work investigates stereotypical gender associations via the interplay of minimal form, materials and seductive colour. The artist’s colour palette is derived, typically, from the aesthetics of contemporary cosmetic products such as blusher and eye shadow. Deploying household gloss paint and more sumptuous materials such as gold leaf and flock, the sculptures are tactile – although touching is prohibited. Byrne combines her materials to create a sense of desire and lust in the viewer that mimics consumerist experiences. This emotive effect is further heightened by scents: the paraffin wax element of PDL 2 (2014), for instance, is injected with the pheromone Pentadecalcatone (PDL). PDL, a particularly attractive musky scent, is produced naturally by glands in the male armpit and is frequently used synthetically in aftershave, soap and deodorant as a means of attraction. The forms of Byrne’s work are inspired by minimalist sculpture (a stripped-down, highly geometric and ordered approach to creating structures dominated by male artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s) and by differing opinions on the ideal female form. Both The Golden Gap (2014) and 36-24-36 (2014) engage with the quest for an ideal body shape and size as proposed and perpetuated by contemporary media imagery. These works’ titles refer to measurements that mark out idealised standards of ‘the body beautiful’ – measurements of the thighs, and hips, waist and bust respectively – the ‘vital statistics’. Process is a significant part of Byrne’s practice. Her constant sanding, smoothing and polishing of her sculptural surfaces and application of alluring textures and scents mimic the striving for perfection to be found within the fashion, beauty and cosmetics industries.