Emma Challacombe - BAF MADE Prize Winner

Sad Stefano

A little late in the day to be writing this up. Last year's winner of the MADE ART PRIZE at Brighton Art Fair 2011 was Emma Challacombe.

Patrice the Pixie

We loved the freshness of her paintings. That they looked like they were painted from enjoyment even when some of the subject matter was ambivalent in tone and title. Hinting at childhood angst, isolation and misunderstanding they are painted with joy and exuberance.

Unwanted Birthday

She says "I work mainly with acrylic on canvas, pen and ink drawings and textiles.

"These mediums are used to translate and merge the blurred memories and vivid imagination I derive from the nostalgia of my childhood. Half remembered toys, celebrations and stories intertwine to create an invented world of colourful scenes which are tinged with a sense of melancholy."

Pet Party

"I am strongly influenced by the first seven years of my life, when I lived in the Netherlands, where every festivity or celebration was eagerly celebrated with a vast amount of decoration with bright colour, fabric and paper. Hand made party hats, streamers and paper sailboats with bunting were eagerly made in the classroom and it’s where I got my bug for decoration and colour."

Sailboat Hat