No. 29: Emily Ferguson
The color red, Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black by Cookie Meuller, Nest Magazine, button crafts and Biologique Recherche Creme Masque Vernix
Emily Ferguson is a Los Angeles-based painter whose work I deeply admire. Formally speaking, she is self-taught – her lessons in painting were in the form of collecting visual material and reading about the practices of other artists / the dynamics of the system she works in. Her recent show at Half Gallery, “If You Want, I’ll Be Your Star,” was intimate yet bold, free-spirited yet assertive. Emily herself leans towards a tomboy aesthetic, while her paintings have strokes of playful femininity – the color red, ribbon, hair, shoes and silk. From Emily’s archives –
I. a color
The color red feels like the most ever-present color in my life and my work. I have grown to see it as more than a color alone. Instead, an instinct, a constant, and a tool to convey both dynamism and emotion. I rarely make a work that doesn't include either a hint, or a full spray of some shade of red. A few years ago I noticed that a lot of the work I am most drawn to is imbued with the color red or the emotion of red. The color is so fascinating to me because the range of shades and tones feels so incredibly endless- from the deepest oxblood shades to ballet pinks (noteworthy: pink is indeed its own hue but in my mind it is simply an extension, an arm of red). Currently, I am having a love affair with this specific tube of Old Holland paint called “Alizarine Karmozijin Lak Extra” that I can’t get enough of; I imagine it to be the color of a royal woman’s blood or something sick and sexy like that.
II. a novel
Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black is a collection of stories by Cookie Mueller. My friend Addison, who owns one of our treasured local bookstores Des Pair Books in Echo Park- is a literary mystic. When I told her last summer I needed a page turner she didn’t disappoint with her suggestion. Yes, last summer… and I am still thinking about it. One of the pleasures of reading a collection of short stories is the delightful ability to go back and revisit the specific selections that touch you with ease. Cookie was a New York icon, a bold decipherer of truth, and frankly, a bad bitch. Her stories stick with me; her writing so candid it could be deemed crass, reeks of an honest sort of storytelling that captures the glamorous, the shocking, and the ugly that is increasingly difficult to stumble upon.
III. a magazine
My partner and love of my life, Jake is the collector type. Lucky for me, his most coveted acquisitions are books and magazines. He has spent an adult lifetime searching ebay for collections of publications that now fill our humble abode. Most recently he purchased a lot of Nest Magazine issues that have been a delight to read and admire. Nest is lovely because it was an interior focused mag with features on many beloved characters of now in their beginnings. Most recently I caught myself entangled in a story of a youthful Amy Sedaris’s New York apartment- the photo spreads are gallery worthy and the covers are all uniquely crafted with ribbon closures, scalloped edges, or vellum overlays.
IV. a craft project
When I had the privilege of making painting both my pleasure and livelihood I knew it would be imperative for me to have hobbies separate from art making. I have dabbled in many-a-hobby over the years but I recently began a project with my vintage button collection. My friend and muse Julia Reeser (who also sells curated vintage) is a creative queen who has shared with me some recent projects of hers using her massive collection of vintage buttons to adorn and craft precious objects of affection. With her inspiration in my back pocket, I decided to finally put my giant jar of buttons to use embroidering a cap. It has been a lovely thing to spend an hour or so every evening working on my little hat. It reminds me of being in middle school and sitting at your desk for silent reading time. Oh, and mark my words, buttons are the new sequin.
V. a face mask
Laugh now at the vanity of this choice and thank me later when your skin feels like a baby's bottom. I don’t do makeup, I don’t do hair, but I do skin. There is a special sort of saccharine veiled disgust you feel when dropping your hard earned dollar on an expensive skincare product. My day to day is unglamorous indeed- as I personally believe an artist’s life should be (a certain degree of humbleness and crudity makes for good work). But, one of my favorite things to do is strip down from my day at the studio and take a steaming hot shower and patiently complete my arduous skincare routine. Enough now, the mask is Biologique Recherche Creme Masque Vernix. It smells like banana peels.
~ bulletin ~
los angeles
Open: Alina Perkins’ La Fiaca at Fernberger. David Kordansky Gallery presents Skin of the City, a solo exhibition of paintings made between 1980 and 2000 by Martha Diamond (1944–2023). Catherine Goodman’s New Works at Hauser & Wirth downtown. Olive Diamond’s show To Be Sung and Remembered at Anat Ebgi — read her affection archives feature here. Hannah Brown’s show Hollow Pond at Anat Ebgi. Photographer Senta Simond’s first solo show Dissonance at Webber Gallery. Oliver Lee Jackson’s Machines for the Spirit at Blum. Clare Grill’s Wich Language at M+B. Samantha Joy Groff’s Huntress at Half Gallery. David Byrd show at Matthew Brown. Group show featuring Robert Ryman, Richard Serra and Donald Judd at David Zwirner. Basquiat show at Gagosian. Inner Space featuring JB Blunk, Minjae Kim, Isamu Noguchi and more at Future Perfect. Pat Steir’s Painted Rain at Hauser & Wirth West Hollywood.
Tomorrow: Carole Vanderlinden’s A Slipping Glance at Karma.
new york
Open: Maria Calandra’s Chasin’ the Sun at Fredricks and Freiser. Sissòn’s Waiting to Exhale at Allouche Gallery. Dabin Ahn’s Silent Whisper at 1969 Gallery. James Fuentes presents Color Codes, a selection of paintings by Kikuo Saito from the early 1990s. Yirui Jia’s Seasonist at Mitchell-Innes & Nash. Christopher Wool’s See Stop Run at 101 Greenwich St. Luigi Zuccheri’s show at Karma. Max Lamb’s Inventory at Salon 94 Design. Group show Adrift on the Lonely Etheric Ocean opens at The Hole including Andie Dinkin, Thomas Barger, Sam Lipp and more. Group show AFTER HOURS at Turn Gallery featuring work by Aglaé Bassens, Mary Corman, and Andy Mister.