Collis, Susan – Don’t get your hopes up*

€32,50

Author: Susan Collis
Publisher: Seventeen Gallery London
Year: 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9554375-2-6

Softcover, unpag. (36 pp.), English
Condition: mint

Areas of the gallery walls appear to have been left unfinished after the de-installation of the previous show. Unusually the behind-the-scenes paraphernalia of display such as screw-heads, nail holes, rawl plugs and pencil marks are still in evidence, together with the seemingly unintentional scuff-marks associated with the movement of art work. A bucket catches drips from a brown patch in the ceiling.  A general air of neglect pervades.

Within Susan Collis’ practice, everyday objects are presented splattered and stained with wear and tear, and the viewer might, upon further investigation, realise that the timeworn flecks of paint that cover an old broom, are in-fact delicate and precisely inlaid gemstones. Initially, the demarcations seem to be the secondary results of a primary activity, seemingly worthless and easily ignored.  Collis is interested in the shift of perception that takes place upon discovery that they are, in fact, intentional and primary activities themselves.

For this her first solo exhibition at Seventeen Collis’ has produced a series of interventions that refer to the accidental and neglected, within the context of gallery space. The exhibition will be easy to overlook, as a cursory glance might lead the viewer to believe the gallery was ‘empty’. As, perhaps, a screw protruding from a rawl plug will turn out to be crafted from white gold and the rawl plug cut from a thin sliver of gem stone, harder investigation of the space will reward the viewer, leading them towards Collis’ notions of hidden labour, within a complex network of contradictions and revelations.

text Seventy Gallery

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