Emerson Pullman (b.1995) is a figurative painter who creates portraits that operate on the boundary between realism and abstraction. Often beginning with an initial drawing, he instinctively pushes forward by making marks and gestures using layers of transparent paint. The depiction of a figure in a scene is used as a starting point for imagining the deeper reality of what is being represented and to use as a framework to explore themes of time, memory, introspection and mortality.

The works draw inspiration from a variety of sources including Philip Guston’s abstract works and 16th century ‘non finito’ sculptures. Fascinated by the process and mechanics of painting, Pullman plays with this and leaves areas unpainted or over-painted and images left without being entirely resolved. Through attempting to transcribe his reality onto the two dimensional surface, through this diversity of resolution, Pullman attempts to re-create the way in which the eye operates; in that sense they are an exercise in anthropocentric seeing and a representation of the way in which one interrogates the world.