Erin Touey

“I am more confident expressing myself through my paintings than through my words...” - Erin Touey

Erin Touey’s work straddles the line between abstraction and representation in her new series of pumice-primed canvas oil paintings. Touey utilizes fluid shapes, variation of line weight, non representational color, distortion of perspective, and in this series, the texture of the pumice primed canvas to bring her often tangible subject matter into the abstract realm. With a limited palette consisting only of - Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Yellow, and Quinacridone Magenta, the artist challenges herself to mix all of her colors. The white of the canvas is preserved deliberately, the negative space making shapes that sometimes jump forward or fall back.

Touey is a Philadelphia native, growing up on the outskirts of the city in Fox Chase. She now finds herself working and living in the city after her recent graduation from Tyler School of Art and Architecture where she earned her B.F.A. in painting. She has received awards including The Plastic Club Award and The Richard Cramer Color Award in Painting in 2022. Artists such as Hilma af Klint, Georgia O’Keeffe, Sonia Delaunay, and Pontormo influence the way Touey considers shapes and colors in her own work.