Susan Collis .- This Was Here
16/Nov/2013 - 25/Jan/2014
Espacio Mínimo gallery present the second solo exhibition in Spain of British artist SUSAN COLLIS. Titled This Was Here, in reference to the residues left behind after other jobs, the exhibition shows a collection of works created with a meticulous dedication: dust falls, walls and surfaces cracks are carefully represented, hinting at forgetfulness, the passage of time and the fragility of intention. They are not the site of the ideal, instead they are the accidents left in the wake of striving for an ideal.
The work And Tomorrow, a pencil-drawn rendition of Kasimir Malévich’s Black Square, shows this deep concern. With the passing of time Malévich’s painting which was specifically intended to be about a lack of form, has become covered with a pattern of cracks over the years, exposing a previous painting that Malevich had obviously meant to black out. The artist has reproduced this pattern of accidental marks revealing how the passing of time manifests the futility of intention.
Other works insist on this idea. To Dust makes clear the limitations of perception to evaluate the marks of the passing of time. This is a durational drawing, produced over a number of days in which the artist has mimicked the gradual building up of dust on a surface. Dust is something that falls silently and unseen and marks a passage of time. In To Be Continued, she continues a pencil drawing of a gestural paintbrush mark with a drawing on the wall which carries on the drips from the framed drawing to the floor. A dustsheet on the floor on which the continuation of the drips has been embroidered continues the installation. In No Good Mother, what look like hundreds of drops of paint around the edges of the gallery, left after the painting of the walls, are in fact carefully placed mother of pearl gemstones. What looks like a mistake or forgetfulness is instead a carefully considered act of drawing. After the Event continues the same theme, a chair seat shows drips and splashes and paint-tin marks that are in fact embroidered in gold threads and made of gold leaf on the body of the chair.
For the execution of these works the artist makes use of a variety of techniques and investigative strategies that question aspects of perception, value, and craftsmanship. COLLIS carries out an inverse archaeological exercise, a false process of aging. But this apparent accidental nature is the fruit of a slow and meticulous process. COLLIS is interested in how our perception of value changes as we discover that these are carefully elaborated, intentional, and that the materials that we mistook for common and valueless are in fact economically and decoratively precious.
SUSAN COLLIS (United Kingdom, 1956), lives and works in London. She regularly shows with European and American galleries, and has recently taken part in distinguished collective shows such as An Archaeology, Project Space 176, The Zabludowicz Collection, London 2007, Out of the Ordinary, The V&A Museum, London 2007, Out of the Ordinary, Tullie House, Carslile 2009, At Your Service, The David Roberts Foundation, London 2009, Bizarre Perfection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem 2009, The Sculpture Show, Eastside Projects, Birmingham 2009, Apparently Invisible, The Drawing Center, New York 2009… Her works form part of important public and private collections such as The Arts Council Collection, UK, Museum of Israel, Jerusalem, The David Roberts Foundation, London, The Zabludowicz Collection, London, Paul Smith, London, Doris Lockhart Saatchi, London, Progressive Art Collection, USA… and in Spain the Helga de Alvear Collection.
