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Elsa Rouy

Elsa Rouy

Elsa Rouy (b. 2000; UK) describes her work as “a visual portrayal of abstruse emotions”. Her semi-biographical paintings transcend boundaries to explore the multifaceted experiences of womanhood. Rouy’s figurative canvases portray intimate moments of grotesque bodies that split and rupture, their separate skins seeping and melting into one another, while bodily fluids leak and intermingle. These figures consistently find themselves in situations that straddle the uneasy territory between suffering and pleasure. Through this, she addresses and navigates the anxieties associated with having and being aware of one's own body. Rouy’s artwork attempts to explore the dynamics of societal and internal power structures.

Her recent solo shows were held at the MCSW Elektrownia, Radom; GNYP Gallery, Berlin/Antwerp; Patricia Low Contemporary, Venice; Guts Gallery, London and Steve Turner, Los Angeles. She has also taken part in numerous group exhibitions, including at AMOCA, Cardiff; SWCAC, Shenzhen; Eigen+Art, Leipzig; Des Bains, London; Natahalie Karg Gallery, New York; Palazzo Monti, Brescia; Larsen Warner, Stockholm; Tuesday to Friday, Valencia and Castor Gallery, London among others. Rouy's work is included in the permanent collections of the FAMM Museum, Mougins; the Museum of Modern Art (MSN), Warsaw and the AMOCA in Cardiff.

Rouy graduated from Camberwell College of Art in 2021.

She currently lives and works in London.

  • 2026
  • AMOCA Dialogues, New Voices from the Museum Collection, AMOCA, Wales (UK)
  • 2025
  • THE CLOAK OF DREAMS, SWCAC with Carl Kostyál, Shenzhen (CHN)
  • HIGH FIVE, Eigen + Art, Leipzig (GER)
  • 2024
  • Mary With(out) Child, GNYP Gallery, Antwerp (Belgium)
  • Obsidian Upset, Des Bains, London (UK)
  • JITTERS, Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York (USA)
  • Aperitif, Palazzo Monti, Brescia (Italy)
  • The Body Electric, Larsen Warner, Stockholm (Sweden)
  • 2023
  • Bye Bye Cowboy, Arusha Gallery, London (UK)
  • Elsa Rouy & Emil Urbanek, EIGEN + ART Lab, Berlin (Germany)
  • 2022
  • Human In Training, Tuesday to Friday, Valencia (Spain)
  • There goes the neighbourhood, Castor Gallery, London (UK)
  • '... and kneeling at the edge of the transparant sea I shall shape for myself a new heart from salt and mud', Kupfer Projects, London (UK)
  • Out of Nowhere, Soho Revue, London (UK)
  • Two Sisters, Roman Road Gallery, London (UK)
  • Damned If I Do, Gallery 46 Whitechapel, London (UK)
  • CACOTOPIA 06, Annka Kultys, London (UK)
  • 2021
  • Brain Food Charity Auction, The Auction Collective, London (UK)
  • I Have My Eye On You, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp (Belgium)
  • Don't Go South, Studio Berkheim, Stuttgart (Germany)
  • Introducing, The Shop at Sadie Coles HQ, London (UK)
  • 2020
  • Limbo, Everyday Gallery, Antwerp (Belgium)
  • When spiders unite they can tie down a lion, Daniel Raphael Gallery, London (UK)
  • Drawn Together, Unit London, London (UK)
  • No time like the present, Public Gallery, London (UK)