Emna Zghal

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

The expanse of an invented nature is what I try to fit in my images. The finite space of a painting, a print, or a drawing, I want it limitless; not only would it expand in the mind’s eye beyond the edges, but also infinitely inwards. The way nature does with its rocks, plants, animals, and reliefs. Yet I am not describing nature. I want the viewer drawn in and teetering on the edge between the familiar and the new. In earlier works, printmaking allowed me at once to quote and reinvent the forms of nature. I carved wood along its grain bringing into focus what the years have inscribed inside a tree. I then recomposed the various shapes using colors freely. With photography, scanning and various digital tools and methods I was able to offer new views of the pattern of the rind and fibrous inside of the pineapple and the watermelon. These images were then transferred onto woodblocks, etching plates and silk-screens allowing me to invent a new nature. For the past two years, I intentionally avoided printing and focused on oil painting and watercolor. What can I invent from scratch? That was the challenge. I learned, or relearned, that the surface is only there to receive the accumulation of doubt, strides, and the setbacks of the creative process. That’s precisely what gives the illusion of life. And instead of looking exclusively one subject, I looked at patterns in fish, animal fur, hide, and plumage. I looked at shells and rocks. It inspired me tremendous freedom. My...

Artwork