SUSAN ASHWORTH

Still life paintings

Born on the Isle of Portland, Susan grew up in a landscape of stone quarries, cliffs and wide views across field and scrub to open sea. She studied Fine Art in Falmouth and has continued to live and work on the South Coast.

Susan’s interest in the tabletop images of Diebenkorn, Nicholson and Letinsky is reflected in her work, as is the pared-back beauty of her maritime birthplace.

Her handling of paint explores the dynamics of representation, with constant play between the flat surface and the illusion of depth and solidity. The resulting paintings show things caught at the very moment of appearance, crystallising out of a quiet shimmer of paint. There is a certain melancholia present. All the same, there is no denying the joy in this work, and a certain wild freedom. This is the freedom of the instant before the brain categorises what is exposed to the eye.  Without fuss or fanfare, they renew for us the surprise of seeing.