This is surely a very timely exhibition. Having lived through the most socially disruptive global event since the war, we can look to art to anchor us to what we hold dear. Sue’s rich interiors and sunlit gardens offer an antidote to the insecurities and enforced isolation of the last months. We can lose ourselves in these paintings, we can imagine tea on those terraces, we can transport ourselves to drawing rooms after dinner, warm and lamplit by the fire, enjoying the company of friends and family once more.
Recently chosen by the New English Art Club as their artist of the month, Sue gave an interview where she spoke of the positive side of isolation: "Since the greatest source of inspiration for me has always been interior light, lockdown has not been a problem. With time, lamplight and a family house with rooms I love, I have been able to continue painting happily for my next solo show."
The exhibition title, Looking Through, was chosen as Sue explains: "I’ve realised over the years that this is very much what painting means to me. Although I so admire artists who create flat exciting shapes with colours and balance, for me it is space and depth – to set a red telephone box far down a snowy street just by thinking it there as I make the mark–the brush cutting in darkly behind a lit lamp, sending the room back behind it – a view through a distant window leading the eye past the still life – I feel excited even writing about it."
- Matthew Hall, July 2020
© Panter & Hall
