THE ARTIST//
The ground paintings reveal a sculptural physicality that embody a tacit strength and fragility.
Gunn explores a historical technique of building layers of gesso, incorporating an organic binder with natural earth and mineral pigments and base substances such as chalk, coal, and marble dust.
Cracks and fissures, typically considered a defect in the gesso surface, are induced in the work that are beyond the artists control.
She describes her art as… " A pre-occupation with the process of provoking accidents during the stages of making the work. Cracks in the works appear during the drying stages and secondary scrapes and nuances are the consequence of the vigour of the rubbing and polishing action. I believe it to be an expression of spirit, vulnerability and survival.
"In Gunn’s paintings there is a subtle tension between the golden section formalism of their geometry and the unruliness of the free-form cracking. They each balance control and abandon, deliberation and chance. This is not the frivolous feminine but the ferocious one, celebrating healing from trauma and taking up space, unapologetically…majestically. Her visceral, loaded work has the monochromatic discipline of Robert Ryman and the meticulous abstraction of Callum Innes"
Curator Cherry Smyth
BIOGRAPHY//
Susan Gunn received international recognition when she won the Sovereign European Art Prize and was mentored by Callum Innes. She works from her studio at Unit 4, Islington Mill in Salford, Greater Manchester.
Gunn studied Fine Art at Norwich University of the Arts in East Anglia. On graduating with a first class honours degree, she established a professional practice in 2004 and has exhibited widely and held a number of solo and group exhibitions at venues including Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, the Norwich University of the Arts, Rollo Contemporary, The Fine Art Society, Bo.lee gallery, and the Royal Academy.
Her work is held in a number of public and private collections around the world including the China Academy of Art Museum Hangzhou, and the Yantai Art Museum. The Madison Museum of Fine Art, USA, the Sainsbury Collection at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (University of east Anglia), the East Anglian Art Collection (University of Suffolk), the Sovereign Art Foundation, the Priseman-Seabrook Collection, and the The Yale Centre For British Art in the USA.
In 2018 Susan held a solo exhibition Ground: Evolution at HOME gallery, the show was curated by Art Director Bren O'Callaghan and her work was selected for the Royal Academy's 250 yr Anniversary Summer Show. Selected group exhibitions included Pulse Miami, An Appetite for Risk and the China - Britain Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Yantai Art Museum.
In 2019 Gunn exhibited at The National Museum in Gdańsk in an exhibition; Made In Britain, 82 Painters of the 21st Century, curated by Robert Priseman, Anna McNay, Małgorzata Taraszkiewicz-Zwolicka and Małgorzata Ruszkowska-Macur. Selected group exhibitions include ‘In Between’ the Britain/China Contemporary Art Biennial, TIME after [ ( ) ] after TIME and Rogue Women.
Gunn exhibited in ‘X’ Contemporary British Painting show in 2023 curated by Narbi Price, in conjunction with Contemporary British Painting. The extensive painting exhibition at Newcastle Contemporary Art marked the tenth anniversary of the group.