‘The work envelops you’ … Emma Richardson in her studio. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian View image in fullscreen ‘The work envelops you’ … Emma Richardson in her studio. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian Painting Interview Is that an explosion, an implosion or an orgasm? Pixies bass-player Emma Richardson’s realm-leaping life in painting Amy Fleming Huge, ecstatic canvases are just one of the vocations of the musician who joined the art rockers in 2024. As her show Hotwire My Heart opens, she talks terror, awe and teabags
Thu 5 Nov 2026 15.12 CET Last modified on Thu 5 Nov 2026 15.14 CET Share Prefer the Guardian on Google E mma Richardson loves to eavesdrop when people look at her paintings and talk about what they see in them. “They turn into these Rorschach inkblot tests,” she grins. Looking at her works, you do stand back in awe wondering. Is that a nebula, a god or a fleshy, baroque orgy? An explosion, an implosion or an orgasm? Richardson implies all of these and more, her paintbrush chasing in vivid oils the hedonism, desire and breadth of human experience.
This fascination with the transcendent has in part been informed by her other life as a musician, formerly in the garage-rock trio Band of Skulls and currently playing bass and singing in Pixies .
“Teabag in or out?” she asks brightly, her studio flooded with natural light, illuminating her canvases, some two metres tall. We are in the far, ungentrified reaches of east London, where a Dickensian-vibes building with a glazed roof and bathroom tiles of architectural salvage dreams can still serve as affordable studios. It’s a muggy afternoon and some of the works remain bubble-wrapped after returning from Richardson’s home town: Southampton City Art Gallery recently underwent a £2m revamp and she was chosen for its grand reopening exhibition, Levitate Me: Desire, Ecstasy and the Sublime . “They did such an incredible job,” she says. “It was celestial.”
View image in fullscreen ‘No one knows what’s going to happen next’ … Emma Richardson performs with Pixies in Austin, Texas, in September 2025. Photograph: Rick Kern/Getty Images But the paintings won’t sit here long and nor will she: these works are destined for a new show across town, while their creator will soon be touring the US with Pixies. While Richardson’s degree was in painting, she has always made music. She was asked to join Pixies in 2024, having had a few years off performing to concentrate on painting. She left Band of Skulls during the pandemic, five albums in. “That experience of playing live definitely feeds into my work,” she says. “There’s an electricity in that connection between audience and performers, then the danger and fear – no one knows what’s going to happen next.”
This is especially true with Pixies because there is never a set list. The next song is always decided on the spur of the moment by Black Francis, lead singer and guitarist. “It’s a real thrill,” she says, “and the show goes so quickly because of that excitement. There’s an element of extreme focus, but you let loose as well. It’s really freeing.”
So she explores these experiences on canvas, “and other ways human beings choose to transcend. It’s fascinating to me how we choose to do that through dancing and raves and festivals, big sporting events, but also solitary meditation and connecting to ourselves a bit more deeply.”
Sex is a big one: “Those ecstatic peak experiences. I’m fascinated by desire and female sexua…