Susannah Fiennes | Reaching Out

Susannah Fiennes Reaching Out

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Susannah Fiennes Reaching Out

27 February - 9 March 2019

‘In the simplest gesture is an underlying geometry through which feeling emerges’

Exhibition curated by Mary Ann Prior Photography by Stephen Horton

Auriol Susannah, this show marks an important milestone for you. Can you tell me a bit about the evolution of these paintings?

Susannah Initially they were about the geometry of gesture, a subject that leads on from my last show: musicians and the shapes that arms make. And before that, the patterns of bicycles in China. It began on Blackpool Pier watching people pushing strollers - I loved those triangular shapes. But in this recent work, I’m looking at how we use arms to tell a story. The ancient Egyptians understood the decorative power of arms.

They provide a bridge between us and the object, making a connection.

It seems to me that you have taken the strict geometry imbibed through Euan Uglow at the Slade and, whilst retaining your deep engagement with picture-making, have achieved a sort of metamorphosis of feeling through structure.

In the life rooms we learnt the grammar of painting with an intense level of engagement. But that discipline should only be a means to an end. Now I’m thinking about the story too. If someone is leaning and reaching to pick a flower, for example, where do you place the figure so that the ‘lean’ and the ‘reach’ are reconciled and balanced? When you lean, you reveal something of what is behind but you are also leaning towards something. It’s a visual equivalent for past and future.

You have chosen quiet, everyday subjects which have a tenderness and intimacy. Someone could be putting flowers in a vase or lighting a candle, in settings only hinted at but which have resonance for you.

Yes, I have found a metaphor for nurturing, comfort and healing. Reaching to pick fruit, or lighting a fire seems hopeful. Sometimes I don’t know who the subjects are and I don’t feel a need to name them. In the simplest gestures there is an underlying geometry through which the feeling emerges.

There is both force and restrained richness in your use of colour. I’m thinking about moments of light and the sense of a unifying ground.

The paintings have developed their mood and key as the composition has resolved itself. It’s good to find a conciliatory grey; that neutral colour that activates the other colours.

And you’ve always been bold and swift about how you put paint onto the canvas.

Susannah - You can be so fearful, and knowledge can have an inhibiting effect. It’s important to love the paint and to let the unconscious speak.

Question and Answer with artist and writer Auriol Innes, 2018

Seated by pond 2017 oil on board 41 x 30 cm

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Kneeling at fire 2018 oil on board 30 x 40 cm

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Picking grapes 2017 oil on board 30 x 41 cm

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Oak room flowers 2018 oil on canvas 61 x 84 cm

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Picking quince (in hat) 2015 oil on canvas 91 x 69 cm

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Reaching cosmos 2017 oil on board 30 x 23 cm

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Cooking sausages 2012 oil on canvas 91 x 122 cm

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Picking quince with wheelbarrow and figure 2018 oil on canvas 81 x 61 cm

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Lighting candle 2018 oil on canvas 61 x 81 cm

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Picking quince (from behind) 2018 oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm

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In the kitchen 2018 oil on canvas 81 x 61 cm

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Looking at exhibition (three figures) 2018 oil on canvas 81 x 61 cm

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Bathers in river 2015 oil on canvas 69 x 91 cm

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Gatehouse 2011 oil on canvas 112 x 68 cm

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Seated by pond with basket 2018 oil on canvas 61 x 81 cm

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Arms III 2011 oil on wood 41 x 30 cm

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Arms II 2011 oil on wood 41 x 30 cm

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Arms IV 2011 oil on wood 41 x 30 cm

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Figure reading 2018 oil on canvas 61 x 81 cm

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Lighting fire 2018 oil on canvas 69 x 91 cm

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At exhibition 2018 oil on board 41 x 30 cm

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Irish church 2018 oil on board 41 x 30 cm

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Figures at picnic 2018 oil on board 30 x 23 cm

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Leaning on broom 2016 oil on board 41 x 30 cm

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Reaching roses 2016 oil on board 30 x 41 cm

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Resting on bale 2015 oil on board 26 x 20 cm

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Leaning on broom in blue 2015 oil on board 25 x 20 cm

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Kneeling and reaching (white background) 2019 oil on board 23 x 30 cm 44

Bending to light fire (with kneeling figure) 2018 oil on board 30 x 41 cm 45

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Picking up pebbles 2018 oil on lino 28 x 19 cm

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White figure holding mug 2018 oil on lino 28 x 19 cm 48

Singing, in blue 2018 oil on lino 25 x 19 cm 49

Dead-heading 2017 oil on board 13 x 10 cm

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Reaching yellow flowers 2016 oil on board 25 x 20 cm 52

Ness’s feast 2018 oil on board 41 x 30 cm

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Teatime 2017 oil on board 30 x 41 cm 54

Figure in white at church 2016 oil on board 20 x 25 cm

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Pointing at yellow wildflowers 2018 oil on board 30 x 41 cm

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Picking flowers 2016 oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm

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Looking at exhibition (two figures) 2018 oil on canvas 81 x 61 cm 58

Reading (purple jersey) 2016 oil on board 41 x 30 cm

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Church in Wales 2015 oil on board 25 x 20 cm 60

Irish church; more people 2018 oil on board 41 x 30 cm

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Ellen and wheelbarrow 2015

15 oil on board 25 x 20 cm

Figures under tree 2015 oil on canvas 69 x 91 cm

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Church in Ireland (grey hat) 2018 oil on Lino 28 x 19 cm

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Church in Wales (red figure on left) 2018 oil on lino 28 x 19 cm

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Tired of working 2016 oil on board 30 x 41 cm

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Convict 2018 oil on lino 25 x 19 cm 69

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Two figures lighting campfire 2014 oil on board 20 x 15 cm

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Lighting campfire 2013 oil on paper 23 x 17 cm 72

Reading with lamp 2014 chalk on board 18 x 11 cm 73

Outside church in Ireland (green sky) 2016 chalk on board 19 x 23 cm 74

Outside church in Ireland (purple sky) 2016 chalk on board 18 x 20 cm 75

At table with candle (yellow wall) 2013 oil on paper 17 x 23 cm

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Bathers splashing III 2014 oil on paper 19 x 25 cm

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Bathers splashing I 2014 oil on paper 12 x 17 cm

Bathers splashing II 2014 oil on paper 12 x 17 cm 79

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BIOGRAPHY SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2005 Thomas Williams Fine Art, Old Bond St. London, Making Music 2000 Somoza-Sims Gallery, Houston, Texas 1999 Grosvenor Gallery, London 1998 Rafael Valls Gallery, London 1994 National Portrait Gallery, London, Chinese Characters 1992\94 Cadogan Contemporary Gallery, London GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2006 The Mall Galleries, London, The Royal Society of Portrait Painters Exhibition 1998 Hampton Court Palace, London, Travels with the Prince 1998 National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Princes as Patrons 1990\87 Cadogan Contemporary, London 1989\91\93 The National Portrait Gallery, London, BP Portrait Exhibition COLLECTIONS

HRH The Prince of Wales

The House of Commons, Westminster, London

Hambros Bank; London, New York, Hong Kong

The National Portrait Gallery, London AWARDS 1993 1984 1983

BP Travel Award (China) British Institution Fund Award, Royal Academy of Arts, London Boise Travel Scholarship (Italy)

TEACHING Since 2009 Drawing Classes in Notting Hill 2003 - 2009 The Royal Drawing School, Shoreditch and Kensington 1995 -1998 Painting Tours in Turkey with Westminster Classic Tours 1994 Painting class at the National Portrait Gallery, London 1985 - 1987 Art and History of Art, Dulwich College, London EDUCATION 1979 Art History Course in Venice, Florence and Rome 1979 - 1983 Slade School of Fine Art, (BA Hons. 1st Class) OTHER 1995 1997 1999

Tour Artist with HRH The Prince of Wales: Oman Hong Kong Argentina, Uruguay and the Falkland Islands 81