Ema Ri is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice encompasses painting, drawing, sculpture, video, and installation, in an ongoing exploration of relationships, the human body and spirit, the natural world, and cycles of transformation. The paintings and installation featured in the exhibition at the Orlando Museum of Art embody the traditions of Baroque vanitas vignettes and classical Roman memento mori. Ri's approach blends the philosophies of Abstract Expressionism, Tonalism, and Impressionism, manifesting in floral still lifes that serve as a reminder to give oneself space for grace, balance, and release.
Ri is a second-generation Cuban American and queer artist, and that identity shapes the practice, inviting contemplation of displacement, vulnerability, reflection, and tenderness, extended to the viewer. Ri uses their hands, massaging, pushing, and scratching oil paint across the canvas. Ri is drawn to depicting and working with flora for its metaphors of spiritual connection to human existence, including native wildflowers often considered weeds that continue to bloom despite rejection.
Works in the exhibition include Spellbound (2026), You can only see as far as your heart allows (2026), Who's Watching Who (2026), This Way! (2026), This Ends Here (2026), and Let it all out (2026), which in its massive scale reveals ephemerality through rippling water mirrored below golden plants. Beneath that canvas lies a pedestal of dried flower petals, frozen in time and impressed with the artist's form.
Press release issued by Orlando Museum of Art:
https://omart.org/news/unfurling-in-a-lyrical-quietude/
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