Erin Touey

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

Erin Touey’s elegant and wildly unique work straddles the line between abstraction and representation in her series of pumice-primed canvas oil paintings. Touey utilizes fluid shapes, variation of line weight, non-representational color, and distortion of perspective in each work. In this series, the texture of the pumice primed canvas brings her tangible subject matter into the abstract realm. With a limited palette consisting only off three colors always - Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Yellow, and Quinacridone Magenta - the artist challenges herself to mix all of her colors in what feels like an infinite number of shades. The white of the canvas is preserved deliberately, the negative space making shapes that sometimes jump forward or fall back. Erin’s unusual choice of a pumice primed canvas creates a textured image that appears to be made of a gorgeous, suede like material.  It’s as if the artist converts oils into textiles, producing a dreamy, luscious. almost three dimensional effect.

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.