For 21 years I have made work in collaboration with my partner in love, art and life Suzanne Howard (1962-2018). This at the outset made the making for me difficult as there were already many voices inside my head. Art-school and running a gallery although very enjoyable and informative had crowded my brain. Ironically as this collaboration was largely unintended, in the beginning I didn’t trust Suzanne’s judgement, I didn’t think she was qualified as she had not gone to art school. This makes me laugh now, as my belief in the academy’s absolute authority has softened somewhat, and my faith in her ideas grew greatly, as I realised more often than not her insights were right on the money. Suzanne had great sensitivity and an uncanny intuition both visually and sonically and plus she had fabulous style. So this is the problem, how do I continue our projects without Suzanne’s voice? The solution was to start again and listen for that voice, which is thankfully still there, in my head and in the work…just as loud, clear and beautiful as ever.
Opening: 6 – 9pm Wednesday 5th December, performance by Weekend Immendorff 7.30pm with guest Callum Galletly