Susan Collis

Susan Collis (born 1956) is a British artist working in Hackney, London. She is known for crafting ordinary looking, everyday objects from valuable materials. In her approach to sculpture, Collins manages to elevate the mundane, celebrate traditional craft techniques, and encourage viewers to take second, closer looks.^[1]

Early life and education

Collis was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. She studied sculpture, gaining a BA(Hons) in 2000 at the Chelsea School of Art, London and a MA from the Royal College of Art in 2002.^[2]

Life and work

London-based sculptor Susan Collis uses a variety of techniques and strategies to investigate issues concerning interpretation, craft, value and labor. Everyday objects are presented etched, splattered and stained with marks of work, wear and tear. At first glance, the marks seem to be the accidental results of normal use, and as such seem meaningless and not worthy of examination. Collis is interested in the shift of perception that takes place upon discovery that they are, in fact, careful, intentional acts, and that the materials used are traditionally valued for their financial or decorative properties. A tired stepladder covered with paint drips from years of use has been simulated by the meticulous inlaying of diamonds, pearls, opals and other prized materials. A bucket catching a drip from the gallery ceiling may not be the result of neglect, rather a complex staging of pumps, water-tanks and false walls to artificially create the scenario. Typically works involve momentous amounts of often hidden labor to create an object that may easily go unnoticed, but is replete with value, be it material or conceptual. Much of Collis’ work can go unnoticed and this visual gamble results in a possible conceptual pay-off that rewards concerted investigation by the viewer.^[3]

Collis’s work has been exhibited at venues including Ikon in Birmingham, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Christchurch Art Gallery in New Zealand, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in Massachusetts, the Zabludowicz Collection, and the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.^[4]

She won a British Cement Association Award in 2001, the Pizza Express Prospects Contemporary Drawing Prize^[5] and the Jerwood Student Drawing Prize in 2002.^[6]

Notable exhibitions^[7]

Solo Exhibitions

• Engineer, Beaconsfield Gallery, London (2003-2004)
• I know all about you, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth (2004)
• The grand scheme of things, The City Gallery, Leicester (2007)
• Don’t get your hopes up, Seventeen, London (2007)
• Sweat, Seventeen, London (2008)
• Susan Collis, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh (2008)
• Why did I think this was a good idea, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, Texas (2008)
• For all the things we thought we’d love forever, Seventeen, Solo presentation, Frieze Art Fair^[8] (2009)
• Twice Removed, Espacio Minimo, Madrid (2009)
• I miss you, Seventeen, London (2010)
• I don’t love you anymore, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris (2010)
• Sculpture Show, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA (with publication) (2010)
• Since I fell for you, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (with publication) (2010)
• So it goes, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, Texas (2011)
• That way and this, Seventeen, London (2012)
• Rein, Honigbrot, Cologne (2012)
• The Price of Nails, Meessen de Clercq, Brussels (2013)^[9]
• I would like to invite the viewer, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, Texas (2014)^[10]

Group Exhibitions

• Jerwood Drawing Prize 2002, Touring Exhibition (2002)
• Notably, Pump House Gallery, London (2002)
• Arcadia In the City, Marble Hill House, Twickenham (2002)
• 40 White Chairs, Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London (2003)
• Gobbledygook, The Centre of Attention Gallery, London (2003)
• Free From the Itch of Desire, Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, Dublin (2004)
• Emergency, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth (2004)
• Seventeen Presents…, Seventeen, London (2005)
• Arttextiles3, Touring Exhibition (2005)
• Thy Neighbours Ox II, Space Station 65 Gallery, London (2005)
• Taking a line for a walk, The Place, Letchworth (2005)
• Chronic Epoch, Beaconsfield Gallery, London (2005)
• The Vinyl Project, Cork, Curated by Simon Cutts for Cork City of Culture (2005)
• Drawing 200, The Drawing Room, London (2005)
• Oriel Mostyn Open 2005, Llandudno, Wales
• Out of the Ordinary, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London (with publication) (2007)
• An Archaeology, Project Space 176, The Zabludowicz Collection (with publication) (2007)
• Isobar, Fieldgate Gallery, London (2007)
• Ultrasonic International II, Mark Moore Gallery, Culver City, CA (2007)
• Citadel 1, Front Room/Killing Room, David Risley Gallery, London (2007)
• Business as Usual, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham (2007)
• Until it makes sense, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris (2007)
• Until it makes sense, Seventeen, London (2007)
• Presque Rien, Laure Genillard, London, Curated by Gavin Turk and Cedric Christie (2008)
• Susan Collis & Graham Dolphin, Galeria Leyendecker, Spain (2008)
• Lure, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris (2008)
• Out of the Ordinary, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead (2008)
• Bizarre Perfection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, (with publication) (2009)
• Souvenir, Leeds Metropolitan Gallery, Leeds (2009)
• The Sculpture Show, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (2009)
• Apparently Invisible, The Drawing Center, NYC (with publication) (2009)
• At Your Service, David Roberts Art Foundation, London (with publication) (2009)
• Out of the Ordinary, Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle (2009)
• Susan Collis, Ane Mette Hol and Toril Johannessen, Lautoum, Norway (2009)
• No Show, Nicholas Robinson Gallery, NYC (2009)
• False documents and other illusions, Portland Museum of Art, Maine (2010)
• Nod Nod Wink Wink, Taos Art Museum, New Mexico (2010)
• Les Élixirs de Panacée, Palais Bénédictine, Fecamp, France (with publication) (2010)
• Look again, Marlborough Chelsea, NYC (2010)
• Lean, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, NYC (2010)
• Les compétences invisibles, Maison Populaire de Montreuil, France (2010)
• The Workers, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA (2011)
• De-building, Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand (2011)
• La Vie Mode d’Emploi (Life a User’s Manual), Messeen De Clerq, Brussels (2011)
• MYSTICS or RATIONALISTS?, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh (2011)
• Into the woods, La Galerie des Galeries, Paris, Cur. Daria de Beauvais (2011)
• Extended Drawing, Tegnerforbundet Gallery, The Drawing Art Association of Oslo, Norway (2011)
• Turn, Turn, Turn, Bischoff Weiss, London. Cur. Glenn Adamson (2011)
• A new Hook. Re-thinking needlework, Museum Bellerive, Zürich (2011)
• L’art contemporain et son exposition, Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris (2011)
• Quiet Works, Temple Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA (2011)
• Lifelike, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN (2012)
• Into the wood, Galerie des Galeries, Paris. Curated by Daria de Beauvais (2012)
• Meanwhile II, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton (2012)
• Look closely now, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, NSW, Australia (2012)
• Passage, Blindarte Contemporanea, Napoli (2012)
• Lifelike, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (2013)
• Lifelike, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA (2013)
• Lifelike, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas (2013)
• L’origine des choses, Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brussels (2013)
• Testing Ground: Disappearing into one, 176 / Zabludowicz Collection, London (2013)
• Lifelike, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona (2014)
• Saint Jerome, Meessen de Clercq, Brussels (2014)
• Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, North Carolina (2014)
• The Needle’s Eye, Kode, Art Museum of Bergen, Bergen (2014)
• What Marcel Duchamp taught me, The Fine Art Society, London (2014)
• The Artist’s Chair, Large Glass, London (2014)
• Small Rome, Frutta, Rome, Italy (2014)
• A.N.T.H.R.O.P.O.C.E.N.E., Meessen De Clercq, Bruxelles (2015)
• Art_Textiles, The Whitworth, Manchester (2015)
• Extra/Ordinary, The Whitworth, Manchester (2015)
• The Needle’s Eye, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design Oslo, Oslo (2015)
• The Needle’s Eye, KODE, Bergen (2015)

Notes and references

1. "Susan Collis on Artspace". Retrieved March 5, 2016.
2. "Susan Collis on Artspace". Retrieved March 5, 2016.
3. "Susan Collis - Seventeen". Seventeen. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
4. "Susan Collis on Artspace". Retrieved March 5, 2016.
5. "Engineer - Part Two, Susan Collis", Art Daily, 7 October 2003. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
6. Lucinda Holmes (November 2007) "Susan Collis: Out of the ordinary", a-n.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
7. "Susan Collis CV" (PDF). Seventeen Gallery. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
8. "For all the things we thought we'd love forever (catalogue)" (PDF). Seventeen Gallery. 2009. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
9. "The Price of Nails - Meessen de Clercq press release". Retrieved March 5, 2016.
10. "Susan Collis CV - Lora Reynolds Gallery" (PDF). Retrieved 5 March 2016.

External links

• 'Susan Collis: So it goes', Austin Chronicle, 1 July 2011
• "The Oyster's Our World"
• "Made Good"
• V&A Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft
• Extract from 'For all the things we thought we'd love forever' 2009 exhibit catalog: Conversation between Mackay Butcher, Cylena Simonds and Susan Collis.
• Meessen De Clercq Gallery: Works by Susan Collis.