La Maison des Chapitres is happy to announce that our artists in residence Susan Stockwell and Michael Roberts will be exhibiting here during the Ateliers from July 29th to Aug 5th, with a vernissage on Saturday July 30th at 1830.
Susan’s work focuses on found objects, their meaning, and what can happen when you transform them. From sculpture to collage to trash to computer components, she is a material whisperer, tugging meaning out of the everyday objects we interact with. A deliberate and thoughtful process of recreation and transformation lends these objects a new meaning, her meaning. Things we took for granted are reexamined and reconstructed and repoliticised. Quiet and discrete in one sense, the work is also a bold statement on the world we all inhabit and the things that surround us. Geopolitics, the natural world, and our stuff all come together in her work to offer a new take on how we interact with and think about our environment.
Michael’s work has a strong graphic and pop sensibility. Direct, colourful and brutally honest, Michael’s work is both childishly joyful and yet clearly shows his outrage at the injustices happening today. You will see that he is thinking about Britain, the Ukraine, among others. The transmission of these images, primarily works on paper, is vibrant and striking. Where you find subtlety you will also find humour, but more often than not you will find a strong, direct, exuberant, angry message in an explosion of primary colours with a bouquet of text to accompany them.
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Le travail de Susan se concentre sur les objets trouvés, leur signification et ce qui peut arriver lorsque ils sont transformés. De la sculpture au collage en passant par les déchets et les composants informatiques, elle est une chuchoteuse du matériel, tirant un sens des objets du quotidien avec lesquels nous interagissons. Un processus délibéré et réfléchi de recréation et de transformation donne à ces objets un nouveau sens, son sens. Des choses que nous tenions pour acquises sont réexaminées, reconstruites et repolitisées. Calme et discrète dans un sens, l'œuvre est aussi une déclaration audacieuse sur le monde que nous habitons tous et les choses qui nous entourent. La géopolitique, le monde naturel et nos affaires se rejoignent dans son travail pour offrir une nouvelle vision de la façon dont nous interagissons et pensons notre environnement.
Le travail de Michael a une forte sensibilité graphique et pop. Direct, coloré et brutalement honnête, son oeuvre Michael est à la fois joyeux et enfantin et montre clairement son indignation face aux injustices qui se produisent aujourd'hui. Vous verrez qu'il pense à la Grande-Bretagne, à l'Ukraine, entre autres. La transmission de ces images, principalement à la gouache sur toile, est vibrante et saisissante. Là où vous trouvez de la subtilité, vous trouverez aussi de l'humour, mais le plus souvent vous trouverez un message fort, direct, exubérant et colérique dans une explosion de couleurs primaires avec un bouquet de texte pour les accompagner.
Biography Michael Roberts 2022
Michael Roberts is a painter and printmaker who lives and works between Provence, France and London, UK. He exhibits internationally and teaches on the Fine Art MA at the Arts University of Bournemouth.
He gained an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of Art, London and a BA from Nottingham Trent University. "There is a pop sensibility to my work – a graphic sense of colour, layering and design. My primary concerns are with narrative, surface, repetition, layering and colour. Influenced by comic books. Often the beginning of work is gleaned from observed situations, books read, mundane encounters, the jetsam and flotsam of everyday life. Once embedded a process of evaluation begins, weighing up and worrying, formulating a working narrative until the inception. My concerns deal with and ask questions of the human condition and this remains constant throughout my practice.
Biography Susan Stockwell 2022
Susan Stockwell is an internationally acclaimed artist working in sculpture, installation, collage and film. Her practice focuses on examining histories and addressing issues of social justice, cultural mapping and feminism. Her art uses the materials of everyday cultural products, such as recycled computer components, maps and money, which she transforms into compelling works of art. In seeking to reconnect an object's past, history and materiality with contemporary issues, her practice highlights the urgent interconnection of these materials with collective memories, desires and ecological shortfalls; aspects that expose and challenge inequality and injustice.
Susan has exhibited widely, including; Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, NL 2022, the Royal Shakespeare Company (2015), TATE Modern (2013), the Katonah Museum of Art, New York (2012), the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2010, 2005, 2001) and her work is held in international collections. As well as working regularly with Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, Susan is supported by The Artists Agency. She gained an MA in sculpture from the Royal College of Art in 1993 and lives and works between London, UK and Provence, France.
Links-
www.michaelrobertsartist.co.uk
www.susanstockwell.co.uk
Susan Stockwell & Michael Roberts, Exhibition for Open Studio's at La Maison des Chapitres in Forcalquier, Provence, France 29th July - 5th August.
This open studio exhibition will show recent works by both artists.
Some inspired by their relocation from London to France in early 2022. Plus other work from their London studios.
1. Territory Dress 2018. Paper maps, printed cloth, money, frame, mixed media. Lifesize. Collection Tropenmuseum Amsterdam NL.
2. Africa 2020. Computer motherboard, tray frame 55 x53 x5cm
1. It's Only The End Of The World 2021. Oil, wax, resin and glitter on linen. 180 x 200 cm
2. Body Politic 2020. Oil, wax, resin and glitter on linen. 73 x 63 cm