280. Suzanne Clements - Willow by the pool

2026
Acrylic on board
20 x 20 cm

Endurance and resilience in the face of life’s emotional and physical precarity sit at the centre of the artist’s practice. Working primarily through self-portraiture, they explore the body as a site of both revelation and concealment, seeking to unspool underlying emotions while suggesting narratives open to multiple interpretations. Distortions inspired by mirrors and reflections stretch and expand the figure, examining fragility, vulnerability, and the instability of perception.

Their work often exists in tension between figuration and abstraction, representation and materiality. Process plays a vital role: layered underpainting forms an unseen infrastructure beneath meticulously rendered subjects, before successive glazes disrupt and distort the final image. The resulting works evoke a haunting sense of exposure — voyeuristic yet intimate, playful yet edged with something darker and unsettling.

The artist completed an MA in Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School in 2022.

Recent exhibitions include Dream Space at Kent House Knightsbridge, London (2025); The Yellow Wallpaper at Incubator, Chiltern Street, London (2025); Rogue Women at Rogue Studios, Manchester (2024); Circle at Pollen Collective, Kindred Studios (2024); Figurative Impressions at Hurst Contemporary (2024); the Annual Royal Scottish Academy exhibition (2024); and Made by Many Acts at Bakery Art Gallery (2024).

Awards include the Hopper Prize (2024) and selection as an Ingram Prize Finalist (2023).