Ahead of the Crowd Painting

Emma Benz is an emerging contemporary watercolour artist based in Gower, Wales. Hailing from a long line of professional artists, her great-grandfather Otto Benz was an American Impressionist who studied at the New York School of Art under William Merrit Chase, and her grandmother Talia Benz was a renowned hyperrealist airbrush artist in the US and instilled in Emma a great love of painting. Emma studied Painting Conservation at the Courtauld Institute of Art and worked as a painting conservator at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and the National Museum of Wales before returning full time to painting just over 3 years ago. Emma's experience in art conservation informs her artistic practice through her extensive knowledge of artist's materials and techniques, especially through the continued use of gilding in her work. Emma's focus is on the natural world which she translates using a bright, bold and unique application of watercolour. Emma exclusively uses specialist Japanese watercolours and the highest quality gold leaf and watercolour paper for her work. Her focus is on bringing the outside in, which has become even more prevalent during recent times. Emma was recently invited to create 4 original paintings for the acclaimed Art on a Postcard Summer Auction, alongside well known artists such as Julien Opie and Jake and Dinos Chapman. Her painting for this auction 'Berry Special' was recently featured in The Times newspaper. Emma is represented by the Cambridge Contemporary Art Gallery, UK. As an emerging artist her work has been exhibited throughout the South East and is in many private collections in the UK.