There but for fortune: solo show by Susie Mendelsson

There but for fortune – the lives of others

an exhibition of new artwork by Susie Mendelsson

3 – 27 May 2017

Open Monday to Saturday 0900 to 1700 (Mondays opens 1000, Saturdays closes 1630)

Susie Mendelsson was born in London to Jewish parents who both fled Germany because of the war. She has decided to donate the proceeds of her latest solo exhibition, There but for fortune, to Suffolk Refugee Support. Her exhibition of paintings and models of the human figure takes place at the Frame Workshop and Gallery, Ipswich from 3 – 27 May.

As an artist Susie has always been intrigued by representations of the human figure and she is particularly drawn to the work of outsider artists. Though the sources of her imagery are often autobiographical, her work communicates universal concerns and emotions. Despite herself, an element of humour often makes an appearance in her work.

Although she began as a painter, since moving to Woodbridge in 2010, Susie has worked exclusively in three-dimensions using paper, wood, wire and recycled materials. One phase of her work used coloured sugar wrappers to create large crowds of people in a variety of settings. More recently she has been collecting used and discarded dolls which she then dismembers and reassembles, placing them in new configurations.

“Most of the materials I use in my work have been discarded: unwanted dolls, magazines that have been read, items from second-hand shops, lost toys. These objects embody their own past and private history which has been abandoned by their owners. I then enhance and draw this past out by reconfiguration and distortion. Perhaps it is this act which allows me to take back control — something that I had very little of as a child.”

Rather than make a conscious effort to arrive at a particular end-product, the process has become more the focus of Susie’s work so the act of ‘play’ has become a priority. This seems to her to be a more valuable and honest way to work. Susie’s journey into the unknown ends up being an investigation into what makes us human.

The overarching theme of her latest solo exhibition is the idea that bad things only happen to ‘others’, never ‘us’. Yet we are all born under a single sky and these scenes from the lives of others could just as well be scenes from our own lives … “there but for fortune may go you or I.”

Susie completed an MA in Art in 2001 and has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. Recently she has exhibited in London in an Outsider Art group show and “The Art of Caring” at St. Pancras Hospital.

You can see much of Susie’s work on her own website: www.susiemendelsson.co.uk.