STUDIO: Sue Williams

TAIR CYFROL O DDARLUNIAU + FIDEO A GREWYD TRA O DAN GYFNOD CYFYNGIAD Y PANDEMIG

THREE VOLUMES OF DRAWINGS + COLLABORATIVE VIDEO CREATED DURING THE COVID19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN

‘ISOLATION noun: the process or fact of isolating or being isolated

living on your own is one thing but living in isolation is another. to look out of the window and imagine the world is still moving but you’ve stood still. BARE RED exposes fear, freedom of imagination, loneliness and hope from she who is looking out of her window’ - sue williams

BARE RED is a series of 3 chinese books painted by williams during the months of the covid19 lockdown. williams had the books custom made in hangzhou market by traditional art book-makers at 四宝草堂 the humble house of four treasures [the four treasures refer to the four materials used in chinese painting/calligraphy - brush, ink, paper + ink stone] during a research trip to china. each accordion-fold book includes 25 pages measuring 40 x 40cm, making the total length of each volume a continuous 10meters between two fabric covered + embroidered hard covers. a generous mix of materials are used - ink, spray paint, highlighter pens, acrylic paint + pencil together with torn paper, magazine cut-outs + cardboard collaged throughout

BARE RED books are deeply personal, authentic, incredibly moving and relatable tomes of real human experience in real time. together, the volumes create a linear visual diary of williams’s personal experience + feelings stretched out over days/weeks/months of the lockdown. we’re reading + viewing her daily thoughts and emotions in flux - reacting to the frightening news, anger at the new world outside, loneliness of isolation, the longing for family + friends, the grief of loosing connections, the boredom of monotony, the need for physical touch + sexual release, the bizarreness of newly adopted routines of a new normal; the range of emotions that so many of us shared in experiencing during lockdown

this body of work also includes CONVERS[ISOL]ATION, a collaborative project between williams + art theorist marilyn allen, responding to the experience of social isolation during the lockdown. a joining of paintings + text, each ‘conversation page’ comprises an image and two dialogic pieces of text, with a communication style associated with social media. emphasis is placed on the dialogue between art theory and practice, rather than an analysis of one by another. the project was initially published over 40 days on the artist’s instagram page and then later compiled in a glitchy, zoom-esque video format by TEN

williams is professor of fine art at swansea college of art, university of wales trinity saint david and is one of wales’ leading contemporary female artists in 2000 williams was awarded the gold medal for fine art at the national eisteddfod of wales and the rootstein hopkins foundation award for painting. in 2005 she was one of eight shortlisted artists for the second biannual artes mundi contemporary art prize. williams is a prominent international artist + leading female artist in wales, with a recognised body of work and an exhibition history of both solo + group shows on five continents. her autoethnographic practice, whether drawing or text, articulates the complexities of human relationships in a contemporary cultural context - williams continues to explore + challenge the fantasies of feminism, sexuality, gender + culture in her work, in doing so she offers her passionate + direct response to the complex world of human frailty

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