Emma McIntyre was born in Auckland. After graduating from Auckland University of Technology in 2011, she received an MFA from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 2016 and a second MFA from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, in 2021. In 2019 she received a Fulbright Graduate Award. McIntyre is a founding board member of the co-operative gallery Coastal Signs, Auckland.
She creates vivid abstract, saturated works full of motion and quickly swept or scribbled gestures. Her large paintings begin on the floor and she’ll pour oil paint, acrylic, washed out ink or an oxidisation solution onto it. Next she’ll pour on another layer and often bring in other textures by brushing or wiping the paint. Her processes are experimental and instinctive, her results varied and unpredictable. She often introduces motifs and art historical ideas into her work.
Emma McIntyre’s artwork manages to fuse the new and the familiar in spectacular fashion.
She is represented by David Zwirner Gallery in New York, Chateau Shatto in Los Angeles and Coastal Signs in NZ.
