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
- Ceren Taspinar & Selin Kitapci, "Elsa Rouy", Dry Clean Only Magazine, Issue #10
- Annalisa Fabbrucci, "Resistance To Perfection", NASTY Magazine
- Aida Daghigh, "Elsa Rouy’s Painted Figures Are Growing Up With Her", Elephant Magazine
- "Elsa Rouy's 'Just Because' at Elektrownia", obiektywnie.info
- MG, "Elsa Rouy. A rising star of the art scene, appearing in Poland for the first time." Label Magazine
- "Act on women's terms", nn6t
- "Recent News: Elsa Rouy", HENI NEWS
- Art News, "Elsa Rouy to Open Her First Institutional Exhibition at MCSW Elektrownia in Poland", Art Plugged
- 2025
- Veronica Tlapanco Szabó, "Elsa Rouy", Glamcult
- "The Radar: Elsa Rouy, Julia Kowalska and Clark Keatley", PLASTER
- Arnau Salvadó, "A Taboo Pleasure", METAL Magazine
- Len Gordon, "Elsa Rouy: What We Hide Beneath the Skin", ArtPlugged
- Maddalena Iodice, Elsa Rouy, States of Making
- Exhibitions, Elsa Rouy: I Pictured Skin, Art Plugged
- Millie Walton, "Does this make you horny?", PLASTER
- FRÄULEIN Issue 38 #EGO (print)
- 2024
- Lara Sherris, "WHY ELSA ROUY’S NEW EXHIBITION ‘A SCREAMING OBJECT’ IS BEAUTIFULLY BRUTAL", SHOWstudio
- Izzie Pullin, "Elsa Rouy: In conversation with the artist championing the grotesque", Shift London
- Emily Steer, "Elsa Rouy, the Painter Turning Her Worst Nightmares Into Art", AnOther Magazine
- Rubén Palma, "Elsa Rouy Talks About The Incubus and Her New Solo Show “Ephialtes” at GNYP Gallery", Overstandard
- "Elsa Rouy I Ephialtes", Find ART
- 2023
- Rubén Palma, "Elsa Rouy Talks About Her Art, Shame and Guilt The female Sexual Gaze, Creative Process & More", Overstandard
- Joey Levenson, "Exploring the depths of the human experience with Elsa Rouy's figurative paintings", It's Nice That
- 2022
- Isobel Gorman-Buckley, "Disgusting and bad art", Metal Magazine
- Feature Provocative, "London-based painter Elsa Rouy", The Wick
- 2021
- TJ Sidhu, "Elsa Rouy is challenging the idea of sex being sexy", The Face
- Charlie Mills, "Interview Elsa Rouy", Coeval Magazine
- TJ Sidhu, "Elsa Rouy is the British art scene’s bold new romantic", The Face
Exhibitions at GNYP Gallery
Solo Exhibitions
- 2026
- Just Because, MCSW Elektrownia, Radom (POL)
- 2025
- Sleeping Beauties, Patricia Low Contemporary, Venice (Italy)
- I Pictured Skin, GNYP Gallery, Berlin (Germany)
- 2024
- A Screaming Object, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
- Ephialtes, GNYP Gallery, Antwerp (Belgium)
- 2023
- The Only Daughter, Steve Turner, Los Angeles (USA)
- 2022
- I Could Always Crack a Joke, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
- 2021
- A Demon in a Sundress, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
- 2020
- Plastic Doesn't Sweat, Guts Gallery, London (UK)
- Platform Elsa Rouy, Unit London, London (UK)
Group Exhibitions
- 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)