Horny cyborg girls, biker fairy chicks and other luminescent creatures: one thing is certain, artist Emma Stern’s work is hot as hell. Stern uses 3D software popularized by porn creators and video game developers to fabricate her beings, adeptly straddling the line between fantasy, fetish, and futurism. Her new show at Almine Rech Paris, which marks her third solo show with the gallery, is on view now until June 2025. Stern stopped by to answer some of our burning questions.
What inspires you?
I tend to cycle through very intense hyper-fixations; these past few weeks I’ve gotten really interested in old advertisements for absinthe from the early 1900s, most of which depict the “green fairy”: a spritely female figure supposedly responsible for the hallucinations that occur when absinthe is consumed in excess. Before that I was really into fonts used in Soviet Cold War propaganda.
Last thing you bought?
An extra checked bag.
What’s hot to you?
Someone who can help me install a bidet.
Last thing you read?
Julian Ceccaldi’s graphic novel Tasteful, which i bought from the PS1 bookstore after seeing his fantastic show there.
What’s hell like?
Like a cat scratch on a sunburn. But it’s really not so bad, just remember to hydrate! And moisturize!
