contemporary artist
of
water nature
- ocean, river, rain, spill... -
Susie David explores water and its wild fluid elemental nature.
Her work sometimes comes into contact with water itself - such as wave, rain, ice, spill... using materials such as pigment, pixel, wax, word, ink, ash, oil...
She gets close to water, and often into it, and under it - with a mask and snorkel! - to observe and gather traces, but these liquid liminal places or 'shores' can also be found inside - in the studio.
"Through dialogue with fluid dynamics, I want to learn water's wild philosophies."
Eastern philosophies and aesthetics, such as Wu-wei, are often illustrated with the poetics of water metaphor, and these deeply influence David's working processes and practice. She tells me that these books often form a wrack-line
around her bed!
"Being human has something of the sea, and I find that water has much to teach. It is a kindred sublittoral place of tidal revealing and concealing, unfolding and becoming, and indeterminate - and this is essentially where my process plays, and when I paint, I try to enter this mindset
- as if I myself were water."
Paintings appear minimal, ephemeral
and abstract, though sometimes - by curious chance - reminiscent of wave, meander, rain, cloud, sea fret...
It has been likened to visual music.
Susie David's studio is in South Devon.
Exhibitions include: Korea Geumgang Nature Art Biennale; Ephemeral River Residency, Dartington, A Global Nomadic Art Project; Oxo Tower Wharf; Bogliasco Foundation Open Studio, Liguria, Italy; The Open Prize, Film Painting Award, Open Gallery, Shoreditch, London; Dust on the Mirror, Gallery North, Newcastle.
Water stories, the body, all the things we do,
are mediums that hide and show what's hidden.
Study them, and enjoy this being washed with
a secret we sometimes know, and then not.
Story Water
Rumi
*
*Translation: Coleman Barks
