Hadassah Emmerich b. 1974 in Heerlen (NL), lives and works in Brussels. She received her Master degree in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, London (2005) and graduated from Higher Institute for Fine Arts, in Antwerp, Belgium (2000) and from Academy of Fine Art, in Maastricht, NL (1997).

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Body and identity, the sensory and the sensual, the commodification of the erotic and the exotic: these are frequently recurring themes in Hadassah Emmerich’s work. The sensuality of her painting resides not only on the surface of the (erotic) image, but also in her refined use of colour and technical execution. Since 2016, Emmerich has worked with a new painting technique, using stencils cut from vinyl flooring, which she covers with ink and then impresses onto canvas, paper or a wall. Referring to the visual language of advertising and Pop art, she creates images that both aestheticise and problematize the female body. She depicts the paradox of simultaneous attraction and repulsion, intimacy and cool detachment, seduction and critique. In this way, Emmerich succeeds in making the act of looking truly provocative.

‍-Nina Folkersma

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Selected solo exhibitions: Beating Around the Bush #7: False Flat (2022), one of four solo presentations, Bonnefanten Maastricht Hips don’t lie, Be-Part, Waregem (B) [cat.]; radioactive mother tongue (2021), Manifold Books, Amsterdam Beyond the Reef, Rectangle, Brussel (Online Viewing Room: Rectangle.be); Body Talk (2019), Whitehouse Gallery, Lovenjoel (B)The Great Ephemeral Skin, De Garage Mechelen (B); Ulterior Motives (2017), C&H Gallery, Amsterdam; Contre Jour (2016), Whitehouse Gallery, Lovenjoel (B); CORPOREAL (2016), Schunck*, Heerlen; Ornament und Verbrechen (2010), Palais Aktuelle Kunst, Glückstadt Séance (2010), Galerie Schau Ort, Zürich; Exopolis (2010), Erasmus Huis, Jakarta; La Charmeuse de Serpents (2010), Hendershot Gallery, New York