SG           Emily, I wonder if I could start by asking you about your influences and about how your art has arrived at this particular point?

ES           As the subject of my work is based around popular culture and commodities, my principle influence is kitsch. I became fascinated with metamorphosing common commodities to create something extraordinary. This lead to my most recent art having a strong affiliation with the theory of the Uncanny, that when something normal is disorientated it reveals a hidden abnormality.

SG           In your opinion, what importance does SaLon Gallery play both amongst young emerging artists such as you who have recently graduated as the only physical location of its kind with an exclusive focus on recent graduates and next generation of graduate artists?

ES           It is an excellent step in the development of contemporary art, which has become increasingly sterile and in danger of losing its avant-garde reputation. The hyperbole surrounding prominent, famous art makes it incredibly difficult for cutting edge graduates to get noticed. For artists working in the North, like myself, it is an ideal opportunity to communicate with one of the biggest artistic communities in the world. 

SG           How do you describe you art?

ES           I like to say I am painstakingly recreating rubbish. The use of beer cans, for example, being reclaimed hyper-realistically in ceramics. My ceramics are effectively three dimensional collages, a concoction of the familiar to create an implausible artefact.

My work unites concept with high craftsmanship, which are two integral attributes in art but not frequently combined. The crafts re-establish the subject matter, glorifying it with my own quirky language to create alluding or subversive undertones.

SG           What was the title of your first ever sold piece and who bought it? How much did you sell it for?

ES           My first piece was a commissioned portrait when I was sixteen for the grand total of fifty pounds. He said it was going to be a gift to his mother, but it's still on his bedroom wall.

SG           Can you talk about the process involved in creating your most recent pieces of art?

ES           I become very focused on a subject and create a collection based on a theme. My latest theme is the Uncanny, in which I manipulate a variety of mediums to generate a perception I want to convey. I use toys as the foundation of familiarity. I am a purist, so physically my work cuts no corners. I do not use masking tape or tracing and my ceramics is almost always totally hand crafted and not cast.

SG           Do you feel there's something specifically related to your country of origin in your work?

ES           Yes, because my work is so obviously focused on popular culture. My surroundings, particularly as a western country, are essential to my conceptional grounding. Many of the issues raised by my work are western concerns, such as binge drinking and plastic surgery. Patches originated from an image of a breast enhancement where the skin around the breasts had been badly scarred in surgery, creating patchy, deformed skin. This piece exploited the repercussions of surgery while humanising the common teddy bear.

SG           Which artists do you personally feel inspired by or drawn to?

ES           I am in awe of many of the artists from the 1950s New York art scene who carried similar views and a sense of humour about what they were creating. This included Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns with their anti-abstract attitudes and lurid colours, Andy Warhol for his elevation of shopping goods into high art and similarly Claus Oldenburg. I certainly have an affiliation with Jeff Koons who very successfully glorifies kitsch.

Bertozzi and Casoni are magnificent and inspirational ceramicists, but my introduction to ceramics came with Neil Brownsword. Brownsword creates bizarre figurines exploring the politics of relationships; I think the influence of his work is apparent in Banana Man.

SG           Has your art been compared to any famous or well established artists by your collectors, dealers, critics, etc?

ES           A couple of people have seen elements of Jasper Johns in my work. I like that analogy because it's not an obvious link like Jeff Koons or the Chapman Brothers. We share a similar ethos in making light of a subject matter while leaving an ambiguity that slowly reveals much more disturbing undertones.

Mike Kelly creates a similar affect with mosaics of gaudy, second-hand fabrics, much like the desired outcome of Infanticide. He is the King of the Uncanny.

SG           Some complain that the current art market has become too commercialized. As an artist, what's your perspective?

ES           Of course it has. All you can do as an artist is keep your artistic integrity. I wouldn't make art if it wasn't primarily for my own satisfaction. As an artist you make the decision about what is commercial and what is sincere. Selling out is visible in the final result, all 3000 reproductions of them.

SG           Cézanne famously grappled with how to represent the world through painting in his way... As a result he spent a great deal of time outdoors, meditating on the landscape. And you?

ES           Any piece of art is a representation of something through the eyes of the artist. I only work with images that stimulate me and I'm always on the look out for an object that inspires me. They usually arise out of subjects closely associated with people and culture.  My latest project is centred on the bed which is used as a symbol of human fragility and fertility.

SG           Cities today, especially in the U.S. and Europe, are about car culture. What is your view on that?

ES           I can't help but be enveloped by popular culture - and car culture very much optimises western society. That kind of culture is a stimulus for my work because of its complete domination over society, for better or for worse. We naturally try to be economical but cost and efficiency means we are inevitably seduced by the consumer culture. As a society we work so much that our spare time is a frantic flurry to fill our lives with commodities to repay our hard work. A subject beautifully explored by Pop Art.

SG           Is the creation of an artwork physically and mentally exhausting and why?

ES           The obsessive nature of my work does make it exhausting in both senses. I am a perfectionist and although the ideas flow freely, the transition from thought to final product can be very frustrating and plagued with rejects.

SG           Does your inspiration come more daytime or night-time or both and why do you think that is?

ES           Inspiration comes when I apply myself. Although my ideas are often bizarre, my thought processes are surprisingly succinct.

SG           Do you work on one piece of art at a time?

ES           No, because ceramics takes time to go through the creative process, I have more than one piece to work on at any one time. I alternate between paint and clay, which keeps the mediums innovative.

SG           What and who inspires you?

ES        The John Moores Painting Competition. It's every other year during the Liverpool Biennial, and it's an exceptional exhibition showing the most up-to-date, diverse range of painting. Most inspiring of all was a Tate exhibition in 2004, A Secret History of Clay: From Gauguin to Gormley, which was simply the most extraordinary ceramic exhibition I have seen.

I find travelling can be an excellent stimulus. Forgive the stereotype, but New York and Berlin are both worth begging, borrowing and stealing to visit.

SG           What medium do you use more than anything else and why?

ES           Ceramics is my primary medium. I don't understand the prejudice ceramics receives as a craft. Unlike painting, ceramic is an actual object opposed to a portrayal of one. I find concepts are easier to convey with a piece of ceramics.

SG           How long does a piece of art take?

ES           Start to finish, most pieces take months to come to fruition.

SG           You're not just watching paint dry, like Larry Poons or something… Please comment!

ES           As a perfectionist, my processes are very slow, arduous ones. Ceramics and textiles are naturally slow mediums but even my paintings are done with great precision. If it isn't exactly what I want it to be, it won't make the final cut.

SG           What are you trying to regain in your work?

ES           My work is diligently recreated in ceramics to subvert not only the subject matter, but also reclaim the high ground from the readymade art industry. I believe art should be an accessible medium to the public, as opposed to being elitist and insular. While the kitsch iconography can be relatively specific, the significance of the piece can still extend beyond a simple translatable reading. The humour in my work also helps to break down the walls of pretension.

SG           What do you think new generation artists still at art colleges should take from your art?

ES           I was told time and time again to move away from ceramics, certainly away from any medium that required excessive technical proficiency a.k.a. a craft. Have the self belief and integrity to persist in what you believe in, not what someone tells you to do to meet the grade and you will be unique.

SG           How would you begin to introduce your art pieces to someone who was coming to view your work for the first time?

ES           My most frequent introduction is, 'no, that's actually ceramics'.

SG           What do you think people will take away from your art?

ES           I would like to raise awareness to the sociological themes that have been depicted in my work. To do this I create conflicting emotions by contrasting a dirty subject with a beautiful craft, to directly provoke the viewer into a preconceived reaction. I use humour as a tool to access peoples emotions, they shouldn't walk away thinking they didn't get the joke.

SG           Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?

ES           If there's one thing my degree taught me, it was never to plan, planning leads to expectation.

SG           What is your legacy and what do you want to be remembered for during your lifetime?

ES           Furthering the transition of ceramics into the high art arena, like Grayson Perry but without the drag.