Culterim | Spaces | Backshop // Zombie Feet

'Zombie Feet' is a solo exhibition of paintings, drawings, and ceramics by British artist Emily Morey. The exhibition explores cycles of creation, deconstruction, and renewal through painting as a form of drawing. The work began with an exercise in making something from nothing: choosing an object and drawing it repeatedly, placing it into different settings, narratives, and variations. Through this process, drawing became a way of generating images and ideas within the painting itself.

Influenced by Philip Guston and his approach to drawing and painting, as well as the ideas explored in 'I Paint What I Want to See', Emily’s paintings consider how images can be invented, transformed, and brought into existence through the act of making. Body parts, everyday objects, and fragments from around the studio are drawn, repeated, altered, and recombined. The paintings develop through accumulation and disruption, allowing forms to emerge without necessarily knowing where they will lead. Ceramic works created by Emily reflect and extend this process, carrying forms and ideas from the paintings into three-dimensional space.

The work is also influenced by horror and zombie films, particularly their combination of humour, naivety, and grotesque imagery. These references feed into the playful and sometimes uncanny forms that emerge, in which familiar things become strange, and fragments can take on new lives.

Life Drawing Workshop & Artist Talk

Alongside the exhibition, Emily will host a life-drawing workshop inspired by this body of work, followed by an artist talk offering insight into her process, inspirations, and use of drawing in painting.