For over two decades, Emma Coyle has been on a relentless artistic journey, shaping her paintings influenced by the American Pop art movement of the 1960s. Originally hailing from Ireland, Coyle has been a London resident since 2006. The Helwaser gallery on Madison Avenue in New York represents her. The gallery hosted a solo exhibition in 2022, titled ‘The Best Revenge,’ which secured the 12th spot in GalleriesNow’s ‘The 30 most popular exhibitions on now’.
Coyle’s artistic acclaim doesn’t stop there; she is a recipient of the International Art Market’s Gold List award, recognized as a ‘Top international contemporary artist of today.’ Her work has also found a place in the collection of past Tate Museum Trustee Dame Janet Wolfson de Botton.
Her artistic journey traces back to the 1990s, where she was introduced to the 1st wave New York Pop Art of the 1960s during her early art education. While her earlier career saw exhibitions in various galleries in Ireland, including the Irish National Portrait exhibition in 2005, Coyle’s move to London marked a pivotal moment.
Coyle’s career as an artist is marked by her current focus on figurative work, utilizing contemporary fashion magazine imagery and advertisements to create painterly images of fine art quality. Her approach seamlessly combines primary and secondary line work with elements of abstraction, minimalism, and negative space.
In 2014, Los Angeles curator Bridget Carron selected Coyle’s work for the Saatchi online gallery collection ‘Power Pop.’ Recognition continued to pour in, with Coyle winning the Artness Magazine cover competition in 2018 and earning the Artist of the Year 2019 Honorable Mention Award from Circle Foundation in France.
Her painting series ‘12.16’ brought further accolades, securing a Special Artist Award from BESTART in 2019, along with awards from Dab Art Co. Los Angeles, Art Show International, and Canada’s ArtAscent Magazine.
In 2020, Coyle introduced mixed white backgrounds to certain pieces, a departure from her previous work. This marked the beginning of her painting series ‘Linda’ and ‘Binary,’ exploring formal composition with a distinctive blend of embracing and disrupting.
Coyle’s ‘Sw16’ series in 2022 continued her exploration of contemporary print media images, with ‘Sw16.1’ earning a Finalist Award from Art Show International in Los Angeles. Notably, her largest painting to date, ‘Collective Selection,’ spanning three canvases and reaching an impressive 366cm (144 inches), was produced in 2023.
Beyond her paintings, Coyle’s work has graced the covers and pages of numerous publications globally. Interviews with the artist have been featured in online and print magazines, including Yale University Radio in America in 2022.
Coyle remains dedicated to various artistic endeavors, including still life in oils, an abstract painting project, woodblock prints, and photography using Polaroid and 120mm camera formats. Her diverse interests, including annual studies of Scandinavian 18th and 19th Century art, horticulture, palaeontology, film noir, and membership in the Royal Astronomical Society and Wigmore Hall, showcase the depth and breadth of her artistic curiosity.
