Susan Andrews

In Susan Andrews's paintings, forms suggestive of cells or microbes are deployed in a light, atmospheric space. She recently participated in Imaging Science, a two-person exhibition at Tin Sheds Gallery, and is represented by Legge Gallery, Sydney.

Why do you make art?
Art is a vehicle that enables me to speak of that which is difficult to put into words. It’s a process that I find both satisfying and challenging and helps me make sense of my experience of living in this world.

Your paintings are suggestive of life forms at the microscopic level. Is there a definable subject matter that you work from, or have in mind, when you paint?
My subject matter has always come from looking at the world and responding physically to sensations both within and around me. At present the subject matter has become more specific in that I’ve been looking at living cells both within the human body in plants and in animals.

How did you arrive at this imagery? Was it preceded by work in more conventional genres (e.g. figure painting, landscape...) ?
The work has been evolving over the years. As an art student in the early eighties I painted biomorphic forms suggestive of body parts floating in interior spaces. The work became progressively closer to the present subject as though I were viewing the forms through a microscope. I started to paint forms that were both open and closed and produced images suggestive of a visual overlapping of plant forms and human body parts. The present imagery has concerns with fluidity, layering and transparency which is a continuation of all of the above.

Do you see your work bearing a relationship to the traditions of representing the body?
Yes I do. We exist in this world through our bodies, we perceive the world and the world perceives us in reference to our bodies. I think my work comes out of the tradition of the body perceived as an expression of space. This expression can be a metaphor for the various levels of sensations felt both internally and externally. Artists like Jackson Pollock, Eva Hesse and Yves Klein are just a few artists whose work I feel embodies this particular concept.

Does your concentration on life forms that are invisible to the naked eye reflect a way of seeing and thinking about nature / life / the cosmic order..?
Yes, our vision of the world around us seems very limited and we tend to see things within a narrow perceptual field. I’ve always been one to look at the intricacies of nature, finding minute structures of nature/life/cosmos far more revealing than the big picture. We know that our bodies are a microcosm of the larger world around us and the microscopic world in turn is also a mirror for the micro/macro world - I’m interested in how we live in this inside/outside, body/world – a universe in motion.

Who is your audience?
That question reminds me of one the Tax Office asked me once! I don’t believe I have an audience as such. My experience of exhibiting work has shown me that the viewing public are often my peers, associates, friends and students and if I’m really lucky a few others may trickle through and view my work.

Do you think that your work may, at some stage, appeal to a large, non-specialist audience? (Presuming, that is, that it hasn't already reached such an audience.)
Having said that, yes I would like my work seen by more people, but I can’t orchestrate that, I can’t make art work with that as the outcome, if I did I would have to change my subject matter. While I would like my work to be more ‘visible’ I really don’t see my work appealing to a large non-specialist audience – the imagery is probably too obscure and not attached to narrative, this makes it double trouble for larger audiences.

Is this important to you?
Yes and No! All artists think they’ve got something to say and are worthy of being heard. People’s reading of the imagery often intrigues me. Some people have referred to my paintings and works on paper as meditative and thoughtful - which is a much-undesired and undervalued commodity these days.

Of peoples' responses to your work, which have you found most satisfying?
I think positive criticism from considered and thoughtful fellow artists, something I can respond to intelligently. Positive criticism can be good intellectual nourishment – to ponder and consider how, what and why I create the work I do.

Could you tell us about your hours of work - do you have a painting routine?
Yes, I do have a painting routine. I like to work consistently, regardless of an exhibition. I prefer to work during the day as I like natural light. A day in the studio often begins between 8am and 9am working until 5pm during the week and Saturdays I usually work for five hours and have Sundays off, an exception to this would be working close to an exhibition deadline, where I will also work on Sundays.

Do you work with exhibitions in mind, or compile exhibitions from the work that you have done?
If I am to exhibit in a different gallery space I do consider the size and scale of the space, and how small or large works may sit in the space, I also consider the light source. I’m flexible on the day of hanging and open to change, as my mental picture of the placed work and the reality of installing may be quite different.

Could you name an artist whose work has been important to you, and say why?
It's hard for me to name one artist as there are so many artists who have been important to me at specific times. I find my art appreciation shifts and what I would have dismissed once I rediscover with new relish as my eyes and mind open wider than before. For the last five years I have found myself being drawn to those artists who have been working with a similar subject matter, Terry Winters and Ross Bleckner. I’ve found Terry Winters' paintings, drawings and prints extraordinarily inventive in imagery, from his plant life and seedpod paintings of the '80s through to his present works of plant cell structures. I’ve also been entranced by the sensual application of paint and the dark melancholic imagery of Ross Bleckner’s large paintings from the early '90s through to his more recent cell paintings.

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