Where We Meet

Susie Breen
Highgate Gallery
17 - 29 Oct 2020
Dates:
Tuesdays to Fridays 1-5pm, Saturdays 11am-4pm
Sundays 11am-5pm, Mondays Closed

I Am Change II. Mixed media on paper.
100x70cm ©Susie Breen

17 October – 29 October 2020

View Susie Breen’s exhibition 
The title of this show – Where We Meet – has now taken on a new and special significance as a result of the pandemic.  The importance of human interaction has been keenly felt and the essential qualities of humanity have been reappraised.

‘A Smallbit Ruffled’ Charcoal on paper 100x70cm ©Susie Breen

Such encounters and emotional connections are a core preoccupation in Susie Breen’s practice, who captures her subjects with clarity and a raw, visceral compassion.

Sugar And Spice I (detail) Charcoal on cotton rag paper175x71cm ©Susie Breen

Sugar And Spice III (detail) Charcoal on cotton rag paper 175x71cm ©Susie Breen

Drawing is the discipline that underpins her work.  Combining close observation with experimentation, she explores themes of personal presence, interdependence, memory and identity.  Always evocative, sensual and dynamic, her work ranges from intimate charcoal and pastel drawings to light hearted line drawings, and from the text based to the abstract.  She brings empathy and humour to her work in a distinctive and compelling way that connects powerfully with the viewer.

Her drawings not only capture the likeness of her subjects, but go beneath the surface to reveal expressions of inner life, giving them a psychological presence. Exaggerations of scale and form serve to enhanced status and change perceptions :  life size images of remembered childhood characters look viewers in the eye:  larger than life crows are portrayed with rank and character, and enormous babies appear as harbingers of change.

Kit II from life. Pastel and charcoal on paper. Original 45x65cm ©Susie Breen

Highgate Gallery is delighted that Susie will be drawings on site throughout the exhibition run.  Visitors will be encouraged to come and discuss her work, to share their own stories, or perhaps to sit for her, actively participating in the creation of new work. (Social distancing measures will be in place at all times.)

Open Edition 30x30cm Archival pigment print, signed & dated. 50% of proceeds will be donated to: Mind, Solace Women’s Aid, Trussell Trust.

EVERYTHING WILL BE ALRIGHT
Exhibition Special £50

About the artist
Susie Breen has enjoyed a multifaceted visual career as designer, media producer and artist – she sees little differentiation between roles – believing them all “water from the same creative well”.  She has exhibited in London and Dublin.  She has taught Design and Observational Drawing to undergraduates and adults.

Press:  High resolution images available by request.  Editorial enquiries welcome.

Contact Artist: Susie Breen
Contact Gallery Coordinator: Jason Sumray
Follow Susie on Instagram @susiebreen_artist
Visit Susie’s website