Richard Embrey 96
INTERVIEW WITH IMOGEN ROLFE THE ANAÏS EXHIBITION
Following on from looking at Frida Kahlo’s exhibition last month. This month I interviewed Imogen Rolfe, an up and coming Artist whose work is very current, but also entwined with past greats such as Kahlo.
Imogen is an Australian born artist and designer whose practice spans painting, illustration, textile design, and fashion. Her work draws on the natural world, esoteric traditions and the female body as sites of transformation; exploring cycles, ecosystems, and the alchemical relationship between nature and human experience.
Trained in the fine art tradition at the Camberwell College of Arts in London and shaped by years of independent practice, Rolfe works across figurative oil painting, works on paper, and silk design. Her creative universe extends into House of Rolfe, the silk lifestyle brand she founded in 2017, in which each design carries an embedded narrative rooted in specific landscapes, plant life, and natural systems. Movement, particularly ballet, flamenco, and yoga, has been a foundational influence, informing her understanding of the body, rhythm, and the relationship between structure and feeling.
Her thinking draws on mysticism, Kabbalah, depth psychology, and the science of consciousness, resisting easy categorisation between
the spiritual and the empirical. She is currently completing the Anaïs series, a cycle of figurative oil paintings exploring identity, power, and the female form.
When and why did you first think that you wanted to be an Artist? I’ve been lucky enough to always feel like it was a natural part of who I am to create. I had some very supportive family growing up, my great-aunt in particular, who was an artist herself. She mentored me in a lot of ways, and though she could be very stern at times, she always encouraged me. Every time I visited, she’d ask what I was working on and would tell me to never throw anything away I made, because you never know when an idea can spark something else. There were some teenage years when I stepped away from my art, but the older I got the more I realised what an integral part of me it was, how healing it is and its like oxygen.
How did you train as an artist? I was very art heavy in high school, but following that I went on my own journey. When I was in my early 20s, I decided to do a foundation year at Camberwell College of Art, which allowed me to explore new ways of creating. I was offered a place at Central Saint Martins, but couldn’t afford to tuition fee (I was still an international student at this point), so I had to turn it down and again went on my own journey b. I hope to go back to study one day to delve deeper into my practise.
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ENTERTAINMENT ART GUIDE
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