‘Better to Dance Like a Goose

Than to Swim in the Blues’ - Arno

[English below]

Mae TEN yn falch o gyflwyno arddangosfa unigol o waith newydd gan yr artist ddigymar Sue Williams

Mae SOLO SYMPHONY yn cynnwys y corff diweddaraf o baentiadau cyfrwng cymysg ar ganfas. Wedi’i hysbrydoli ar ôl creu baner diweddaraf yr oriel, gwelwn gyfres o ddawnswyr yn troelli o gwmpas polion, wedi’u dal ym momentwm y foment. Mae rhai wyneb-i-waered, eraill yn goesau a sgidiau stiletto i gyd, a clustiau bwni nodweddiadol Playboy ar ben pob un. Rhydd yw’r arddull paentio, gyda marciau brwsh bras, eofn ac amlinelliad du, medrus yn dod â siâp cywrain y corff i’r amlwg. Gwyneb collage o bwt o gylchgrawn sydd i bob un o’r dawnswyr, fel masg supermodel - y ‘delfrydol’ - yn cuddio’r person oddidano. Dyma ddangos agwedd o gyfarthrebu rhywiol rhwng pobl, sy’n thema blaenllaw yng ngwaith Williams - y cuddio a’r datgelu, y pryfocio arwynebol a’r angen rhywiol dyfnach, y ffug a’r gwir

Gwelwn hefyd waith fideo a wnaed mewn cydweithrediad â’r cyfansoddwr David Bird a’r ysgrifennwr Marilyn Allen. Daw’r delewddau o ddarluniau niferus Williams, yn fflicio yn staccato dibaid,a clywir bytiau o sgyrsiau rhwng Williams ac Allen wrth iddynt drafod heb-flewyn-ar-dafod eu profiadau o fod yn fenyw. Mae gwylio yn ymosodol ar y synhwyrau, ac angerdd dwys yn gwthio’r gwaith yn ei flaen

Amlygir yr angerdd hwnnw gyda más o ddarluniau ar bapur wedi’i plastro yn gefndir i sgrin y fideo. Yn debyg i dudalennau o ddyddiadur gweledol - a gyhoeddir i bawb i'w gweld - adrodda ddarluniau eofn Williams hynt a helynt profiadau erotig, sefyllfaoedd personnol, materion teuluol a sylwebaeth ar fywyd yn yr 21 ganrif o safbwynt yr artist

Mae thema syml ac angenrheidiol wrth wraidd holl waith Williams: sef cyfathrebu dynol. Mae'r gwaith a gynhyrchir yn herio tabws ac yn ysgogi ymateb - mae'n gofyn am sylw gan y gwyliwr. Efallai y bydd rhai yn diystyru, eraill ag embaras ond mae ei themâu cyffredinol a dynol yn cyffwrdd â phawb - p'un ydym yn ei gyfaddef ai peidio

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TEN is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new work by award-winning artist Sue Williams

SOLO SYMPHONY features the latest body of mixed media paintings on canvas. Inspired by her recent gallery banner commission, we see a series of dancers spinning around poles, caught in the momentum of the moment. Some are upside down, others are all legs and stiletto shoes, all are topped with the signature Playboy bunny ears. The painting style is loose, with broad, bold brush marks and skilful black outline bringing out the intricate shape of the body. Each of the dancers has a collage face from pages of a magazine, like a supermodel mask - the 'ideal' - hiding the person underneath. This work points to aspects of sexual communication between people, a prominent theme in Williams' work - the hiding and the revealing, sexual teasing and deeper wants, the fake and the real

We also see video work made in collaboration with the composer David Bird and artist-writer Marilyn Allen. The visuals come from Williams' many paintings and drawings, flicking in ceaseless staccato, with snippets of conversations between Williams and Allen as they discuss frankly their experiences of being a woman. Watching is aggressive on the senses, and intense passion pushes the work forward

That intensity is highlighted with a mass of drawings plastered on the wall as a background to the video screen. Like pages from a visual diary - which are published for all to see - Williams' bold drawings tell the ups and downs of erotic experiences, memories, family issues and commentary on life in the 21st century from the artist's point of view

At the heart of Williams’s whole practice is a universal, wholly necessary yet simple theme: that of human communication. The result is a practice which challenges taboos and provokes a response - it demands attention from the viewer. Some may be dismissive, others embarrassed but such universally human themes are relatable to all - whether we admit it or not

Gan • Written by Dylan Huw

[English below]

Rydym yn gosod ein hunain, a chael ein gosod. Fel hyn, fel’na, yma, acw – ry’n ni’n perfformio’r fath ddefodau bob eiliad o bob dydd, yn awtomatig a di-feddwl tan iddynt beidio bod. Sgwn i ai dyma un diffiniad o gelf: rhoi ffurf i’r fath osodiadau, trefniadau, dad-osodiadau a dad-drefniadau sydd fel arall yn cael eu cymryd yn ganiataol? Rydym ar drugaredd grymoedd o bob math, yn cael ein taflu o gwmpas gan holl rym y byd bob-dydd a’i ormodeddau. Ond rydyn ni’n rymoedd hefyd. Felly, y dychymyg. Felly, gwytnwch celf fel offeryn o greu a datgelu grym, o amlygu grymusderau, o orfodi dau a dau at ei gilydd a chyrraedd math arall o fyd.

Mae cyflwyniad TEN o waith Sue Williams a’i chyd-deithwyr wedi ei drefnu fel cyfarfyddiad o arddulliau a chyfryngau a ffurfiau, sy’n switsho positions fel cân bop. Yn ganolog i’r cyfan yw ymdreiddiad i’r berthynas anesmwyth rhwng ffurf (celf) a ffigwr (dynol), sy’n ddrych o berthnasau anesmwyth rhwng gwahanol fathau o gyrff mewn gwahanol fathau o ofodau. Yn yr ebost yn fy ngwahodd i gyfansoddi’r geiriau rhain, defnyddiodd Cat y gair drifflith-drafflith. Er nad oes dim byd damweiniol neu ar-hap am gelfyddyd Sue Williams, mae’r fath eirfaoedd mympwyol yn teimlo’n addas ar gyfer artist y mae ei geirfa aesthetic mor aml wedi anelu i ddadsefydlogi neis-neisiau côds celfyddydol arferol.

Daw synnau a ffigyrau i’r byd, sy’n adrodd cyfarfyddiadau amwys mewn pob lliw dan haul. Mae bydoedd seiniol yn craclo a chrasho, mae delweddau’n ysgwyd, caiff lleisiau eu manipiwleiddio a’u hail-gymysgu. Yn y darnau rhain, fel yn y geiriau rhain, mae pob dim fel petai mewn proses o guddio a datgelu ei gwir ystyr ar yr un pryd. Mae cyrff wedi eu creu o sgraps, a vice versa, yn geni ffrwydriadau o fywyd newydd ac anghyfarwydd. Maen nhw’n rhuo gydag asiantaeth, ac yn ein gorfodi i gwestiynu ei natur: sut wyt ti’n gosod dy hunan nawr, wrth edrych?

Sgwn i gall y ffigyrau ar y waliau ffigyru fel cydweithredwyr yr artist hefyd? Mae eu gosodiadau a’u edrychiadau yn swnllyd; gall fflatrwydd papur ddim-ond-jyst cadw caead ar eu gwthiad grymus i gyfeiriad y ddim-fod a’r ddim-yn-cael. Maen nw'n canu caneuon rhyfel yn erbyn gorchmynion y byd eu bod nhw’n bod yn bopeth i bawb. Bydden nhw'n neidio o’r waliau i’ch ysgwyd petai eu cyfrwng yn gadael iddynt. Camp Sue Williams a'i chydweithredwyr yw gwneud y math hwn o uniongyrchedd yn amhosib edrych i ffwrdd ohono, yn amhosib peidio’i brofi fel profiad sy’n goresgyn unrhyw resymeg arferol. Fel hyn, fel’na, yma, acw; edrychwch eto, a gadewch i’ch hunan ffrwydro gyda nhw nol allan i’r byd go iawn.

•

We have ourselves positioned, we position ourselves. This way and that; here, there; we perform these rituals, automatic and unthinking until they’re not, every waking second of our lives. Might one definition of art be the articulation or translation of such arrangements, derangements and deformations into form? We succumb to forces, yes, have the world in its myriad too-muchnesses forced upon us. But we are forces too. Thus, the imagination; thus, the resilience of art as an instrument of force-making, of elucidating force, of forcefully putting two and two together and getting someplace new.

This presentation at TEN of work by Sue Williams and her collaborators is arranged as a a meeting of tenors and media and artforms which switch up positions like a pop song. Drawn into focus is the always-uneasy relationship between figure and form, mirroring often-uneasy relations between different kinds of bodies in different kinds of environments. In the email inviting me to write these words, Cat describes the show’s arrangement of the artist’s drawings using the term drifflith-drafflith, which means any-old-how, haphazardly, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, indiscriminately, topsy-turvy or willy-nilly. Nothing in Williams’ work is accidental or haphazard, but such affects – and such unnervingly whimsical vocabularies – are an apt descriptor for the work of an artist whose aesthetic vocabulary has so often sought to deconstruct the niceties of normative aesthetic and formal codes.

Sounds conjure figures narrating ambiguous encounters in many-coloured hues and tones. Sonic lifeworlds crackle and clash, images jitter, voices are distorted and remixed. Sound, figure, force, voice, position; to sound, to figure, to force, to voice, to position. In these artworks as in these words, everything is always both revealing and concealing its truest meaning. Bodies built of scraps and vice versa birth explosions of new and uneasy life. They roar with agency, and call into question its very nature: how are you positioning yourself right now?

Might these figures in the work also figure as the artist’s collaborators? Their positions and gazes are loud; the flatness of paper only just-about contains their impulses toward the obscene, abject, unallowed. They sing war songs against the world’s demands that they be everything to everyone, or any one thing to anyone. They would jump off the walls and shake you if they could. The trick of Sue Williams and her collaborators is to make this kind of immediacy impossible to look away from, impossible not to experience as full-body sensation. This way and that; here, there; look again, and explode with them out into the world

Wednesday - Saturday 10:30 - 17:00

The Coach House, Rear of 143 Donald Street, Cardiff, CF24 4TP

+44 (0) 29 2060 0495

info@gallery-ten.co.uk

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