Meet the artist - Emma Lokke

Emma Lokke

SETAREH is pleased to present Meet the Artist, an online series where you will get to know young talented artists and their work. An insight to their practice, connection to art and what inspires them. In this episode we present Emma Løkke.

Emma Løkke (b. 1992 in Copenhagen) studies at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf since 2017. She attended the class of Martin Gostner and is currently studying with Thomas Scheibitz. Last year, she received the Junge Positionen NRW award which led to her first solo show at Künstlerzeche Unser Fritz. This summer Emma Løkke was part of the annual exhibition series with young emerging artists GENIUS LOCI IX - STRIKES BACK at SETAREH X.

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Emma Løkke uses different materials as carriers, such as wool or voile, including them at the same time as important elements of her works. In several working steps, the artist creates multiple overlapping monotypes on canvases and very thin textiles. First, Emma Løkke paints, sometimes very pastose, with oil, acrylic and linoleum paint on plastic foils. While the paint is still wet, she creates colored prints with the help of wooden boards and her entire body, which consequently mirror her gestural and fast executed paintings. Through several superimposed processes, strong depth effects emerge between the colour layers, which are enhanced further by the transparency of the fabrics partially sewn together.

Emma Løkke
Memory is a poet, 2021
oil, linoleum paint on fabric, steel
250 x 180 cm

What is the emotion moves you to a painting?

Emma Løkke: The love and excitement for painting moves me to do what I do. It’s more a way of being than an emotion. I need to paint and do art and that’s why I do it. Painting is a very specific and intense medium, and that’s fascinating to me. And however many paintings have already been made, I still believe that there are still so many paintings to be painted. The process of painting in itself draws me to paint and then again inspires me. However I think it is important to have no fear when approaching a painting. The environment many of us young artists live in, is very unconducive to failure. But failure and experimentation, trusting the process and loosing control is very important to me. Though always having a starting point, I try to let go of any preconceived ideas while painting. Instead I’m interested in how we can see the lack of structure and ambiguity as something strong and desirable.

What inspires you the most?

Emma Løkke: Looking at art and making art. Going to the studio every day. In my working practice a painting always responds to another painting, whether I’m aware of it or not. I work simultaneously on multiple pieces, as well as responding to paintings or artworks I’ve done before. Even subconsciously my paintings respond to paintings in arts history and it’s important for me to question what a painting is for me and reflect upon what came before me. In the same way, every form or colour has a reference in the real world - however abstract it is. Being aware of the detail, also forces me to be present and aware of the world around me. I’m interested in finding a painterly language for what you can’t grasp. This is often connected to my own body.
Through the working process of painting and my physicality, time, movement and fragility in the symbiosis between the piece and my person becomes conserved in the final painting.What is the emotion that moves you to a painting?

Emma Løkke
To begin a time, 2021
oil, linoleum paint, acrylic and gesso on linen and cotton
180 x 140 cm

Looking into the future - Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

Emma Løkke: The love and excitement for painting moves me to do what I do. It’s more a way of being than an emotion. I need to paint and do art and that’s why I do it. Painting is a very specific and intense medium, and that’s fascinating to me. And however many paintings have already been made, I still believe that there are still so many paintings to be painted. The process of painting in itself draws me to paint and then again inspires me. However Ithink it is important to have no fear when approaching a painting. The environment many of us young artists live in, is very unconducive to failure. But failure and experimentation, trusting the process and loosing control is very important to me. Though always having a starting point, I try to let go of any preconceived ideas while painting. Instead I’m interested in how we can see the lack of structure and ambiguity as something strong and desirable.