Emma Prempeh, the artist who paints women with a gilt edge
2 min read · 01 Jun 2023
Emma Prempeh, And So On (2022). Copyright the artist, courtesy of Tiwani Contemporary
Emma Prempeh is on the HENI News radar after the young painter and recent graduate showed her work with her gallery at Frieze New York and in Lagos.
The London-based artist, who was born in 1996 and has Ghanaian and Caribbean heritage, has seen her HENI Score—a unique artist sentiment—soar by 205% as collectors’ interest grows in her paintings of domestic life, typically featuring family and friends, which are often accented in imitation gold leaf.
Prempeh joined Tiwani Contemporary while still a postgraduate at the Royal College of Art in London. The gallery organised a solo show in its Lagos space in 2022 and a solo booth at Frieze New York in 2023, a remarkable achievement for an artist under 30 years of age.
Prempeh’s paintings are untested at auction but they have been offered for between $9,000 and $24,000 on the primary market over the past two years.
Collectors’ growing interest in Prempeh’s work is reflected in Artsy’s data on trending artists. In spring 2023, Prempeh came top of its Frieze New York artist-to-watch list.
The artist was shortlisted for Bloomberg New Contemporaries in 2019 while at Goldsmiths, London. She won the Ingram Prize the same year.
Emma Prempeh, Steal The Rum Cake From the Kitchen (2023). Copyright the artist, courtesy of Tiwani Contemporary
The artist’s paintings are often inspired by her surroundings, portraying memories of growing up in south London. “I always pick up things that my grandma has in her home because it’s just so fascinating to me—the lace I use, the textures, the patterns, even the colors,” she told Vogue.
The painting And So On (2022) features the artist’s late aunt in a room surrounded by family furniture, for example. “Growing up there was always one favoured chair where the head of the house would sit,” Prempeh said.
To get a deeper understanding of Emma Prempeh's career visit her HENI Dashboard; a unique graphical data tool illustrating an artist’s auction sales, shows, profiles, mentions and their HENI Score. You can search for any one of the 100,000 Artist Dashboards to quickly appreciate their trajectory as well as sharing via email, text and WhatsApp.