British artist Emily Ponsonby (b.1990) is a painter and printmaker living and working in the South West of England. Working with encaustic, Ponsonby’s practice explores intimacy, touch and human connection through richly layered surfaces of beeswax and oil paint. Her paintings are breathing surfaces, built from the small rituals of gathering, from the half-said story at a table, from the comfort of hands resting near one another – they are both literal and emotional explorations of a setting.
Raised by a hobbyist beekeeper, Ponsonby started experimenting with beeswax early on, combining it with oil pigment to forge luminous, sculptural surfaces that pulse with tactile energy. Her recent work reflects an enduring belief in the power of shared moments. Her paintings suggest a world where stories unfold unhurriedly, where silence holds weight, and where even the viewer - pulling out a chair or picking up a glass - has something to offer.
EXHIBITIONS
Solo: London Art Fair - Gillian Jason Gallery. January
Group Show: Soho Revue. June - July
Solo: Gillian Jason Gallery, London. September
Group Show: Gillian Jason Gallery, London. March
Group Show: Purslane, Online
2024
Group Show | Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London.
Group Show | Rhodes Contemporary, London.
Solo: KETTLE OF FISH | J/M Gallery, London.
National Portrait Gallery | HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS PORTRAIT AWARD.
Group Print Show | Soho Revue.
2022
ACT ONE | Noho Studios
FROM LIFE | Sladmore Contemporary
2020
BUCOLIA | Blue Shop Cottage Gallery
Works On Paper | Blue Shop Cottage Gallery
Reaction in Seclusion | Online Exhibition
Sophie Breitmeyer | Pewes Terrace, London
Liberty London | Stocklist
Herstory – Women In Art | Maddox Gallery, London
Solo: BARE | Noho Studios, London
Solo: HUMAN LANDSCAPES | Green & Stone Gallery, London
Solo: The Naked Truth | Villa Africa, Cape Town, South Africa
Tiny Treasures | Group show. Belville, South Africa
Second Nature | Group show. Cape Town, South Africa
Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition | Mall Galleries, London.
Solo: SOAK | Avenue Studios, London
The Royal Society of British Artists | Mall Galleries
Royal Society of Oil Painters | Mall Galleries, London
Royal West of England Academy | Bristol
The Society of Women Artists Annual Exhibition | Mall Galleries, London
Shortlisted for the BP Portrait Awards | London
VAS, The Royal Scottish Academy | Edinburgh
Artist Residency - Vila Lena, Italy - 2021
- Casa Balandra, Mallorca - 2021
