Susanne Kerr - Artist

SUSANNE KERR

ARTIST

Text Box: Susanne’s work the clearing has been selected as a finalist for this year’s Wallace Art Award. You can see the clearing at the Wallace Art Award Finalist show at the Pah Homestead, 72 Hillsborough Rd, Hillsborough in Auckland from 6th September—16th October 2011. The Wallace Art Award Finalist show then travels to the Dowse Gallery in Lower Hutt, Wellington from 29 October—4 December 2011. Contact c. +64.27.286 7899
e. su@susannekerr.com
Susanne’s CV (PDF) Current/Upcoming: September 6—16 October, 2011:
The Wallace Art Award Finalist Show, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland, NZ September 8—26 October, 2011:
The Central Otago Art Award Finalist Show, Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery, Alexandra, NZ September 20– 9 October, 2011: Locale: Group show at Sanderson Contemporary Art Gallery, Auckland, NZ 14 October– 14 November, 2011:
The Waiheke Art Award Finalist Show, Waiheke Community Art Gallery, Waiheke Island, NZ 29 October- 4 December, 2011:
The Wallace Art Award Travelling Show, Dowse Gallery, Lower Hutt, Wellington, NZ
Represented by: Sanderson Gallery, Auckland

“My practise as an artist so far has been underpinned by my examination of social identity and the ambiguity in human interaction and communication. I am intrigued and inspired by the physical and linguistic expressions that bind us to one another or keep us apart, and the spaces that are settings for or reminders of those interactions—spaces of crisis, deviance, exclusion, loss, love, confusion and ignorance. Recent works draw parallels between human and animal behaviour as a starting point to explore the rituals and routines of our daily lives—stressing the follies of, and the fragile state of being human and exploring the effects of the environments which shape us. These works continue to evolve, incorporating objects, people and landscape from my daily life and the tension between opposites—the innocuous and sinister, the hidden and revealed, fragility and strength, the twisted and humorous. Issues of scale and space are a current pictorial pre-occupation. I am interested in the way the eye is guided rhythmically over the surface of a work in what is drawn or left untouched. Current works incorporate large empty spaces, some imagery is rendered with great care and detail, contrasted with imagery executed with simplicity, or aspects inferred only through the drawing of the reverse space.“

Susanne Kerr 2011

Born in Christchurch in 1973, Susanne Kerr completed a BFA at Ilam School of Fine Arts at Canterbury University and moved to Wellington in 2000. She has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Auckland and Wellington and her work was included in the survey show Mind Games: Surrealism in Aotearoa at Hastings City Art Gallery in 2009. Her work has been published in three artist’s books and she has been a finalist in the Wallace Art Award [2008, 2011]; the NZ Painting and Printmaking Award [2009, 2011]; the Central Otago Art Awards [2011]; the Clifton Art Award [2011]; the Walker and Hall Waiheke Art Award [2008,2010, 2011]; the Molly Morpeth Art Award [2011, 2010]; and the COCA Art Award [1997,1998]. Susanne’s studio is located in the seaside suburb of Eastbourne where she resides with her family.

Click this Facebook link to view a selection of Susanne’s paintings and drawings from 2007-2011.

Above left: cup of tea with Crackpot, 2011, acrylic, pen and pencil on paper, 500 x 1000 mm
Above right: cup of tea with Crackpot (detail)

Above : rules of deportment, remember the missionary's dog, 2011, Gouache and pencil on paper

Above: Pet plant? So where’s the dog?, 2011, Gouache and pencil on paper

Above: Disco Baby, 2011, pen and ink on paper, 1000 x 1250mm

Above: mittens, 2010, acrylic on paper, 1000 x 700 mm

Above: Containment, 2010; acrylic on free-floating organza box (2 layers)

Above: Symmetry, 2010; oil and acrylic on canvas; 920 x 920 mm

Please contact Susanne at su@susannekerr.com with any enquiries or to arrange a visit to her studio. Click here to download her CV (PDF).

Thanks for visiting.