Elsa Rouy (b. 2000, Sittingbourne, UK) makes semi-autobiographical paintings that use the figure to dissolve boundaries and probe the many facets of personhood. Her characters repeatedly find themselves in the uneasy territory between suffering and pleasure, in compositions that raise questions of femininity, control, destruction, desolation, evolution and catharsis. Through them, Rouy confronts the anxieties of inhabiting—and being acutely aware of—one’s own body, exploring the dynamics of societal and internal power structures alongside the fluidity of existence.
Rouy‘s solo exhibitions include a presentation at the Museum Elektrownia, Radom, Poland (2026); Sleeping Beauties at Patricia Low Contemporary, Venice (2025); I Pictured Skin at GNYP Gallery, Berlin (2025); A Screaming Object at Guts Gallery, London (2024); Ephialtes at GNYP Gallery, Antwerp (2024); The Only Daughter at Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2023); and a series of solo shows with Guts Gallery in London, among them I Could Always Crack a Joke (2022), A Demon in a Sundress (2021) and Plastic Doesn’t Sweat (2020).
Her work has featured in numerous group exhibitions, including HIGH FIVE at Eigen + Art, Leipzig (2025); The Cloak of Dreams at SWCAC, Shenzhen (2025); Mary With(out) Child at GNYP Gallery, Antwerp (2024); The Body Electric at Larsen Warner, Stockholm (2024); Aperitif at Palazzo Monti, Brescia (2024); and shows across London at galleries including Arusha, Castor, Soho Revue and Sadie Coles HQ.
