Emma Kohlmann

The new works Emma Kohlmann has created, on paper, canvas and in ceramics, have been touched by the edges of the suns; they are doubling, tripling and metastasizing. Kohlmann sees it as a way to describe the synastry of color, the weight of a body, the feeling of skin or the flapping wings of a human faced bird directly transmitted onto a piece of canvas. Like etchings or tablets carved out of wax. Images that have preexisted the artist. Yet without knowing this, they have since found her.
– V1 Gallery

I saw two suns at V1 Gallery

“Whoever speaks with primordial images speaks in a thousand voices” - Carl C. Jung

Jack Hanley Gallery is excited to present Emma Kohlmann’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. For the exhibition, Kohlmann presents a new series of works on paper and canvas.

Emma Kohlmann’s drawings and paintings retrace the subconsciousness through a symbolism drawn from erotica, ancient statues and figurines, or mythological narratives. Androgynous nudes touching each other or themselves, butterflies, plants and wondrous animals with human faces all coexist in Kohlmann’s dreamscapes that are fantastical and deeply spiritual.

The immediacy of the watercolors and sumi ink on paper with their fluid figures reflect the surreal spheres the viewer gets drawn into. Like automatic drawings the blobs and lines seem to channel the unconscious. Grouped by color and arranged in large grids, the drawings piece together the cache of symbols like a hieroglyphic script.
– Jack Hanley Gallery

2018 solo exhibition at Jack Hanley Gallery
2020, Glowing in the Dark at Jack Hanley Gallery

A series of watercolors shown in Journal Gallery’s revolving exhibition space, Tennis Elbow, in Brooklyn, NY.

Weekend installation at the Basilica Soundscape 2017 in Hudson, New York. Acrylic paintings on canvas and offset newsprint wallpaper. 

108 works on paper, water color and sumi ink. Gardens of the Pure was a group show with Kitty Brophy, Alice Mackler and Emma Kohlmann, curated by Jocko Weyland at MOCA Tucson Summer 2016. 

Solo exhibition at V1 Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark 2016.

Studies into Obscurity is a new series of watercolor and sumi ink drawings by Emma Kohlmann depicting sensual figures in various stages of development and decay. The collection of work (more than 100 drawings covering the walls of V1 Gallery Project Space) is based on erotica, but also draws on and utilizes other aspects of historical narratives such as primordial Venus figurines, ancient statues, and tantric illustrations.

Fluid figures seem to naturally emerge out of wondrous spills. Nude, reclining, having sex, and touching themselves. The eroticism of these works is a refreshingly punk, feminist take on contemporary sexuality.

Each drawing is unique, not two drawings are the same although there is a retracing of the same work at play. The drawings themselves become fatalities of spontaneity, unintended marks become part of the overall ethos of each piece. The obscured aspects of the body become entry points into abstractions.
– V1 Gallery

Studies into Obscurity at V1 Gallery

Solo exhibition at KIT Gallery in Tokyo, Japan 2016

Secret Flower is a collection of watercolor drawings made in 2015-16. Kohlmann has made over 200 works on paper for KIT Gallery. The show is an assemblage of overtly carnal imagery, evoking the passion and distance between the viewer and piece. The works are hung in a series of grids throughout the gallery to give the effect of wallpaper.

Secret Flower at KIT Gallery

A series of watercolor and sumi ink paintings.

Zines, poetry, and illustrations by Emma Kohlmann, circa 2011-2015.

A group show with Koak, Daniel Guibizzi, and Emma Kohlmann at Ampersand Gallery in Portland, OR. 

Ampersand is pleased to present Pleasures and Treasures, an exhibition featuring works by Koak, Dan Gluibizzi and Emma Kohlmann.

While Dan’s and Koak’s work can be recognized by an identifiable use of line, Emma instead employs the pooling of watercolor and the subtleties of that medium to portray an anatomy that doesn’t fall into idealized corporeal narratives. By coincidence, she describes the process as a carving out of form, almost like the sculptural figurines and artifacts that inspire her. But while the title of the show itself alludes to a book that documents an antiquated and solid medium, the three artists here represent a moment in flux, pleasures and treasures to be found.
– Ampersand Gallery

Pleasures and Treasures at Ampersand Gallery

Flyers by Emma Kohlmann circa 2011-2016.