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Susie Hamilton

Susie Hamilton

by Susie Hamilton

Introduction by Dr Charlotte Mullins

Edited by Anneka French

Contributions by Louisa Buck and Anna McNay

Imprint: Anomie Publishing

240 Pages, 9.7 x 11.4 in

Hardcover
9781910221570
February 2025
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Susie Hamilton’s dynamic practice is concerned with a wide range of subjects but often focuses on solitary people in impersonal public spaces or natural wildernesses. From the heroic, isolated exploits of astronauts and Arctic explorers to lone shoppers in supermarkets, all subjects are equal under her gaze. Other works turn attention towards crowds on beaches and in hotel dining rooms, who, as in Hamilton’s paintings of single figures, are invaded by blooms and veils of paint.

Comprising over 300 paintings in oil and acrylic and numerous works on paper, Hamilton’s work is here divided into thematic sections that bring insight to her research. As critic and broadcaster Charlotte Mullins observes, "Hamilton often uses literature as a springboard for her work. Her paintings draw out the ambiguities of Shakespeare, the fragmentary chaos of TS Eliot, the melancholy of Andrew Marvell." From the power of her transmutative, barely human figures presented at the Ferens Art Gallery (2002), to the more recent progression of Hamilton’s solitary forms which move across desert, tundra, and forests under attack from natural and unknown forces, her often otherworldly figures remain resilient.

As Mullins reflects in her introduction, however, Hamilton’s work is not all "pain and suffering." Nor is it solely concerned with the human figure. Mullins writes, "There is joy too, particularly when she turns her probing eye to the natural world. She captures the quizzical gaze and lightning speed of monkeys, white paint splattering the surface as they race through salt flats. We see the lethal precision of a shark in the depths, the pale camouflage of an owl in a snowstorm, the perfect balance of an ape as it leaps from vine to vine."

The development of Hamilton’s work further unfolds in an enlightening interview with writer and broadcaster Louisa Buck, from the night-time desolation of motorways and petrol stations to an evolving interest in human and animal figures. Buck’s in-conversation also details Hamilton’s series "Plumpers" and "Mutilates", uneasy figures who border categories of abstraction and representation.

Writer, editor, and international curator Anna McNay, in her eight-part extended essay commissioned for the publication, discusses Hamilton’s literary influences in detail, drawing out the ways that Hamilton’s own biography shapes the work and informs her perspectives on landscapes, people and animals.

Designed by Hyperkit and edited by Anneka French, the publication has been produced by Hurtwood and published by Anomie, London.

Susie Hamilton (b. London, 1950) studied Fine Art at St Martins School of Art and Byam Shaw School of Art. She read English Literature at London University, gaining a PhD in Shakespeare studies (1989). She lives and works in London and has been represented by Paul Stolper Gallery since 1996. Since 2018 Hamilton has been commissioned by mental health charity Hospital Rooms to create wall-paintings in psychiatric intensive care units and made three works for the central staircase of the new Springfield Hospital, London (2022).

Recent solo exhibitions include Unbound, Paul Stolper, London (2022); in atoms, Paul Stolper, London (2016); Here Comes Everybody, St Paul’s Cathedral, London (2015); Black Sun, Studio Hugo Opdal, Flø, Norway (2009); World of Light, Triumph Gallery, Moscow (2008); New Paintings, Galleri Trafo, Oslo (2007); Leisure Paintings, Paul Stolper, London (2006); Dissolve to Dew, St Edmund Hall, Oxford (2005); Immense Dawn, Paul Stolper, London (2003); Paradise Alone, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull (2002); Mutilates, St Giles’ Cripplegate Church, London (2001).

Hamilton’s work is represented in collections including Government Art Collection, British Museum, Science Museum, Imperial College Healthcare Art Collection, Richard Heaton Collection, Murderme Collection, Deutsche Bank, St Paul’s Cathedral, The Women’s Art Collection, Brehman Collection, The Methodist Modern Art Collection, The Priseman Seabrook Collection, and The Groucho Club.

Charlotte Mullins is an art critic and broadcaster. She is currently writing Art Nation, a history of British art, for Yale University Press, and her latest books include A Little History of Art (Yale, 2022) and A Little Feminist History of Art (Tate, 2019). She writes a weekly column for Country Life and presents the podcast Making a Mark.

Anneka French is a curator and critic who writes for Art Quarterly, Burlington Contemporary, and Photomonitor. She has been commissioned by the Turner Prize, worked at Tate Modern, Ikon, The New Art Gallery Walsall, and Wolverhampton Art Gallery, and curated exhibitions at Grand Union, Birmingham; KH7 ArtSpace, Denmark, and Coventry Biennial.

Louisa Buck is contributing editor for The Art Newspaper and a commentator on BBC radio and television. She has written for Tate, ICA London, Whitechapel Gallery, MCA Australia, and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Buck is the author of several books including Commissioning Contemporary Art: A Handbook for Curators, Collectors and Artists (2012).

Anna McNay is a writer, editor, curator, and researcher based in Hitchin, UK. She studied history of art at Birkbeck, University of London. Former Assistant Editor of Art Quarterly, the magazine of Art Fund, McNay has written for The Guardian, Elephant Magazine, The Burlington Magazine, RA magazine, and regularly contributes to Studio International.