EMILY GILLBANKS (b.1999) is a contemporary figurative painter and researcher from East Anglia, United Kingdom, who grew up in a working-class family.
She received her BA (Hons) in Fine Art from the University of Suffolk, Ipswich (2020). At the age of 20, she was the youngest person to complete her MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, Battersea, London (2022). She was awarded The Fribourg Philanthropies Painting Prize when she graduated.
In 2023, Gillbanks collaborated with the Barbican Centre on a social media campaign for Alice Neel’s retrospective "Hot Off The Griddle.”
She was the first artist in 2023 to complete both The Chargeurs Philanthropies Foundation’s Painting Residency in Marseille and the Daler-Rowney Artist Residency in Bracknell. At the Daler-Rowney Residency, she created bespoke oil hues in the colour laboratory, with her paintings now featured in the Daler-Rowney collection and other prestigious international art collections.
Her papers "The Coining of Quasi-Dasein: To What Extent is the Physical Presence of a Sitter No Longer Being's Most Eminent Mode?" and "Temporary Sitters: Painting People in Contemporary Society" have been published alongside her paintings. Her current writing explores the relationship between Spatial Computing and New Figurative Painting.
"Temporary Sitters," Gillbanks’ first solo show in London, featured an immersive installation of paintings capturing fleeting moments of people travelling on the London Underground, inviting viewers to engage with fellow passengers' stories.
In 2021, she was awarded The de Laszlo Prize for Excellence in Painting at the Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition at Mall Galleries and the Artsthread Fine Art Student of the Year Award in collaboration with Gucci.
Emily has been pre-selected for The Freelands Painting Prize, The National Portrait Gallery’s BP Portrait Award (2020), and The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award (2024).
Education:
October 2020 - September 2022, MA Painting: Royal College of Art
September 2017 - June 2020, First-Class BA (Hons) Fine Art Degree: University of Suffolk
Solo Exhibitions:
2023- Temporary Sitters, London, Mayfair, 15th March- 8th April.
Collaborations:
2023- Alice Neel: Hot Off The Griddle, Barbican Centre collaboration. What does it mean to paint from life today? Social media campaign.
Residencies:
2023- Daler-Rowney Artist Residency, invited to paint people who worked in the Daler-Rowney paint factory in Bracknell, October 4th-October 17th 2023.
2023- Chargeurs Philanthropies Foundation’s Painting Residency, Marseille, France. July-September 2023.
Awards, Grants, and Nominations:
2024- Shortlisted for The Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London
2023- Shortlisted for the Jacksons’ Painting Prize
2022- Shortlisted for the ACS Studio Prize
2022- The Fribourg Philanthropies Painting Prize Winner 2022, Royal College of Art
2022- Shortlisted for the RBA Rome Scholarship 2022, by the Royal Overseas Leagues Education Committee and the Royal Society of British Artists
2021- Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Second Painting Award, Quebec, Canada
2021- Awarded The de Laszlo Foundation Prize for Excellence and £1,500 awarded to an artist aged 35 or under for the best work from life in the Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition.
2020- Winner of the Global Design Graduate Show 2020 Fine Art People’s Choice Award for Painting
2020- Grantee of the Yorkshire Ladies Educational Society
2020- Shortlisted for The Sequested Prize: A Prize For Self-Portraiture Prize 2020, Tristian Hoare Gallery, Fitzroy Square, Bloomsbury, London
2020- The South Square Trust Fine and Applied Art 2020 Grantee, Lewes, Sussex
2020- Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Painting Award, Quebec, Canada
2020- Nominee for The Freelands Painting Prize, 2020, Regents’ Park, London
2020- Pre-Selected for The National Portrait Gallery BP Portrait Award Exhibition, 2020, Charring Cross, London
2019- University of Suffolk Fine Art Student of the Year 2019, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Ipswich, Suffolk
2018- University of Suffolk Representative at the Art History in Higher Education Conference, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
2018- Gainsborough Landscape Prize Winner, Gainsborough House, Sudbury
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2024- All I Have Is You, Hope93 Gallery, London, October 3rd-tbc.
2023- Friends and Family, Pí Artworks, London. 5th January-28th January.
2022- Mall Galleries Award Winning Artists 2020-2022, Mall Galleries, London, 27th July-6th August.
2022- Royal College of Art Degree Show, Painting Building, Battersea, 27th July-6th August.
2022 - The Royal Overseas League and Royal Society of British Artists Rising Star Exhibition 2022, Royal Over-Seas League, Over-Seas House, 6 Park Place, St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1LR Opening Hours (General Public): Monday to Friday, 10AM – 5PM 29th April- July 3rd.
2021- The Royal Society of British Artists 304th Annual Exhibition, The Mall Galleries, London, 14th-24th April
2021- The Human Condition, 54 The Gallery, Mayfair, London, 14th-21st March 2021
2021- The Work-In-Progress Show, Royal College of Art, Battersea. 28th January-4th February
2020- The Society of Women Artists 159th Annual Exhibition 2020, Mall Galleries, London, 22nd September-30th December
2020 - Global Design Graduate Show 2020. Shortlisted for Fine Art, Photography, and Craft Category. In collaboration with Gucci, Artsthread, and ID, Somerset House, London.
2020- An Instagram Aesthetic: To Begin At The Beginning, Peter Pears Gallery, Aldeburgh, 18th-23rd September
2020- Interim Degree Show, The Minories Galleries, Colchester, 6th-15th February
2019- Woodlands Exhibition (invitation to exhibit research proposal of a Patient-Centred-Curational-Practice in collaboration with charity; Hospital Rooms), Waterfront Gallery, Neptune Quay, Ipswich
2019– Inhibition, Group Exhibition, Arlingtons, Ipswich
2018- Responses to The Landscapes of Thomas Gainsborough, Gainsborough House, Sudbury
2018- Simultaneous Mapping, Waterfront Gallery, Neptune Quay, Ipswich
2018- Simultaneous Mapping, Otis College of Art, Los Angeles
2017- Selected Student Portraiture Exhibition, The Apex, Charter Square, Bury Saint Edmunds
2015- Environmental Factoring, University of East Anglia, Norwich
Publications:
2023: The Londonist, Do You Feature In These Paintings? https://londonist.com/london/art-and-photography/emily-gillbanks-tube-commuter-paintings-temporary-sitters
2023: Temporary Sitters featured in WhyNow, The Mundane Made Extraordinary https://whynow.co.uk/read/the-mundane-made-extraordinary-emily-gillbanks-london-underground-paintings
2023: The Gallery Guide https://www.thegalleryguide.co.uk/exhibitions/emily-gillbanks-temporary-sitters
2023: Artnet Article on Collecting Emerging Talents https://news.artnet.com/buyers-guide/7-questions-jean-david-malat-2023-2252038/amp-page
2022: Royal Overseas League https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/business/21262330.suffolk-artists-shortlisted-scholarship-work-showcased-london/
2021- She Magazine, Issue 4, Available at Tate Modern. https://www.shemagazine.co.uk
2021- Royal College of Art, Painting student wins top award at the Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition, (April 20th 2021) https://www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/painting-student-wins-top-award-royal-society-british-artists-annual-exhibition/
2021- The Daily Art Magazine, Gokce Dyson, London Mall Galleries: An Interview on Covid-19 and Reopening, (April 19th 2021) <https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/an-interview-with-mall-galleries/>
2021- Telegraph, Tristram Fane Saunders, Look! A Million-Dollar Pixel. Can any good art come from staring at screens? (April 15th 2021) <http://m.email3.telegraph.co.uk/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40kkZMGAH5vVba1CZEFX4w8PlUaFXm6tE6rDuqOQJ8qq0%3D&WT.mc_id=e_DM1388058&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi_Cul_NewDesign&utmsource=email&utm_medium=Edi_Cul_NewDesign20210415&utm_campaign=DM1388058>
2021- East Anglian Daily Times, Johnny Griffith, Award-winning artist to have work showcased at Mall Galleries (March 18th 2021) <https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/suffolk-schooled-artist-work-showcased-in-london-7833474>
2021- Royal College of Art, Being together through the screen, https://www.rca.ac.uk/news-and-events/rca-stories/work-progress-2021-art-design-post-covid-world/
2020- I-D, See the winners of the ARTSTHREAD x i-D readers vote, (28th September 2020) https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/7kpnmq/see-the-winners-of-the-artsthread-x-i-d-readers-vote
2020-Portraits For NHS Heroes. Bloomsbury Publishing: Bedford.