Elsa Rouy: A Screaming Object

Guts Gallery presents “A Screaming Object”, a solo exhibition by London-based artist Elsa Rouy.
At the heart of the show is a monumental 7.5-metre frieze composed of five canvases forming one continuous, visceral scene. Rouy masterfully explores the tension between raw brutality and tender beauty, delving into the suppressed and troubling depths of the subconscious.
The works radiate unease and emotional complexity. Ghostly faces twist into expressions that teeter between pleasure and pain. In the central piece, a finger probes a bleeding wound in an act of masochistic, erotic self-destruction, while two faceless figures embrace under jealous gazes that simmer with yearning. The scene is set against a bruised, theatrical backdrop divided by a stark line, with spectral clothes suspended eerily on a washing line, transforming domesticity into a site of fetishistic tension.
Complementing the central frieze are three smaller works depicting isolated figures in states of lonely transformation. These distorted bodies twist under the weight of disproportionate limbs, shrouded in dark, creeping vapours or framed against sickly, rotting yellow tones.
Rouy employs a variety of painting styles, blending classical softness with frenzied, scratched surfaces that obliterate boundaries between bodies. Gestural strokes leave spectral traces of limbs and hands, capturing the volatile, unstable essence of the human form.