Emily Gernild

Above all, Gernild’s paintings are dynamic. Soft, bold strokes of colour blend with familiar subjects like wineglasses, lemons and horses – symbols laden with allusions to Christianity and mythology, and to art history. Take the lemon. In Christianity, lemons symbolize fidelity. But the lemons in Gernild’s paintings are not always fresh or even yellow. They mutate and morph, changing colour, darkening. Art historically, a delicately peeled lemon was a proverbial object in Dutch still lifes, denoting the imminent transience of all things. The dark side of life is also embraced in Gernild’s paintings, which often feature dark passages and pitch-black lemons.