Emily Gordon

Emily Gordon is a highly talented artist who has made a name for herself with her limited-release cityscapes that offer a unique glimpse into the historic surroundings of Sydney. Hailing from Oakland, California, Gordon relocated to Australia in 2005 and now divides her time between downtown Sydney and Gunning NSW. Her work is characterised by an inspired interplay of rhythm, light, and pattern that elevates everyday moments and enables viewers to share in her personal visual narrative.

‘Paddington Stories’ follows on from Emily Gordon’s sold out 2024 solo presentation at Michael Reid Sydney – ‘The Paddington Project’ – celebrating the dense and layered streetscapes and vistas of Sydney’s Paddington area (Gadigal land).

“I spent a great deal of time in 2024 exploring the stepped maze of streets and alleys that traverse and connect the many pockets of Paddington. My base is the City, and while I had a general familiarity with the area, I was looking to delve into a more intimate understanding of the distinctively local. For ‘The Paddington Project’ specifically I was hunting for expansive moments of revelation that would translate into larger scale compositions. Along the way, I collected a photographic library cataloguing intriguing moments of sunshine, humour, colour, form, pattern and personality – compositionally better suited to the narrative snapshot of the board sizes I work with most frequently in my practice: windows into my adventures on foot, an outsider taking notes on my journeys. The ‘Paddington Stories’ (2025) series was mined from a deep dive into this rich visual archive, to share the special moments that continued to surprise and delight me on my way – the architecture and flora will look familiar to Sydney locals but each work tells a story that might take an unexpected twist from the predictable. Rhythm and light, atmospherics and drama all remain central preoccupations.”
-Emily Gordon, September 2025