Susie Hamilton

My painting is inspired by the idea of transformation, with people continually undergoing mutation. I turn human figures towards the non-human—grotesques, cyborgs, monsters and ghouls—consequently adding a layer of menace, pathos, comedy or mystery to the human image. But for me metamorphosis is not just about one image morphing into another, man into yeti for example, but rather the disruption of representation altogether. My materials are not simply servants of depiction but are used to assail the people depicted with blots, spots, lines or veils. My riders, doctors, road-sweepers, polar explorers etc are invaded by pastel lines and pencil marks, obscured by thin, semi-translucent layers of oil paint or dissolved into acrylic fluidity with the result that they are taken apart, dismembered and assaulted. Making leads to unmaking so that people appear increasingly fragile. However, the process doesn’t end here since new phenomena emerge out of the ravaged and disrupted image. The figures are remade into uncertain and mysterious creatures hovering between abstraction and figuration. They are turned into or accompanied by inscrutable shapes and marks and are therefore examples of my continual practice of contrasting the named, realistic and recognisable image with something unnameable, enigmatic and unfamiliar.

Biography
Susie Hamilton lives and works in London and is represented by Paul Stolper Gallery. She has a Ph.D in Shakespeare studies from London University and degrees in painting from St Martins School of Art and Byam Shaw School of Art. Since 2018 she has been commissioned by Hospital Rooms Art and Mental Health Charity to create large wall-paintings in psychiatric intensive care units. A major monograph of her work with texts by Louisa Buck, Charlotte Mullins and Anna McNay has been published by Anomie Publishers. Her work is in numerous public and private collections including Richard Heaton Collection; Murderme Collection; Deutsche Bank; St Paul’s Cathedral; Women’s Art Collection and The Groucho Club. Works from her 2020-2022 ‘Covid’ series of paintings and drawings have been acquired by The Government Art Collection, The British Museum, The Science Museum and The Imperial College Art Collection.