Susie Hamilton

Biography

I live and work in East London and am represented by Paul Stolper Gallery, London. I make paintings, drawings and prints and depict people in natural or in urban wildernesses: polar explorers on the ice cap, pensioner shoppers in impersonal superstores, astronauts in space and, more recently, patients and doctors in Covid wards. I put figures in bleak or challenging places and then make them more vulnerable by my ‘iconoclastic’ method of painting which makes and unmakes images. I draw over the figures with lines, obscure them with blots or clusters of cells, melt them into acrylic fluidity or turn them into semi-abstract shapes. In this way they appear damaged, even grotesque, a quality that appeals to me because it faces up to messy, abject or mutable aspects of humanity.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions include C-19, Paul Stolper (2020); On Margate Sands, Paul Stolper (2018); in atoms, Paul Stolper (2016); Here Comes Everybody, St Paul's Cathedral, London (2015); World of Light, Triumph Gallery, Moscow (2008); New Paintings, Galleri Trafo, Oslo (2007); Paradise Alone, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull (2003). Group shows include Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, London (2020); A Dreadful Day, Paul Stolper, London (2020); Beyond Other Horizons, Iasi Palace of Culture, Romania (2020); Art Car Boot Fair, London (2020, 2019); Drawing Biennale, Drawing Room, London (2019, 20017, 2015); Grub Party (2-person show), Transition Gallery, London (2019) Small is Beautiful, Flowers Gallery, London (2018); Towards Night, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne (2016); John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (2014, 2004); Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London (2014, 2009, 2004); Jerwood Drawing Prize, Jerwood Space, London (2012). 

See Susie’s Lockdown Interview here -