_born 1956, London
lives and works in London and East Sussex, England.
Susan Collis uses a combination of sculpture, drawing and installation, often creating environments and objects that appear at first glance to be abject, unfinished and unlovely, but which, upon closer inspection, reveal themselves to be meticulously crafted using traditional artisan techniques and often, precious materials.
Her works often hold within themselves two contrasting states of reality, - Dirty versus clean, valuable versus worthless or casual versus heavily considered.
She is interested in making works that look so ordinary that they become invisible.. requiring a leap of faith on the part of the viewer.
Her works therefore attempt to highlight the unreliability of surface as a reflection of truth and she questions what it means to live in a society where surface is everything.
_solo and two-person exhibitions
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2025
Remainder, valerie_traan gallery Antwerp, BE
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2023
It’s lighter than you think, Seventeen, London, UK Susan Collis, Galeria Leyendecker, Tenerife, Canary Islands
2022
Shadows on the Sky, Ikon, Birmingham. With Carlo Crivelli
2019
Without you the world goes on, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, USA
This Way Down, Espacio Minimo, Madrid, Spain
2018
All this falling, Seventeen, London 2017
When we loved you best of all, Touchstones Rochdale, UK
2016
Plinth, Ikon space, 44 Great Russel Street, London
2014
I would like to invite the viewer, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX
2013
The Price of Nails, Meessen de Clercq, Brussels
This was here, Espacio Minimo, Madrid
2012
That way and this, Seventeen, London
Rein, Honigbrot, Cologne
2011
So it goes, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, TX, USA
2010
I miss you, Seventeen, London
I don’t love you anymore, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris Sculpture Show, Torrance Art Museum, CA (with publication)
Since I fell for you, Ikon, Birmingham (with publication)
2009
For all the things we thought we’d love forever, Seventeen, Solo presentation, Frieze Art Fair (with catalogue)
Twice Removed, Espacio Minimo, Madrid
2008
Sweat, Seventeen, London Susan Collis, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
Why did I think this was a good idea, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Austin, Texas
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2007
The grand scheme of things, The City Gallery, Leicester
Don’t get your hopes up, Seventeen, London (with catalogue)
2004
I know all about you, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2003
Engineer, Beaconsfield Gallery, London
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_prizes and residencies
2016
Plinth, Ikon space, 44 Great Russel Street, London
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2010
Monaco National Musée Nouveau – Residency 2010 Commissioned Artist, The Armory Fair 2010
2009
The Illy Prize, The Netherlands
2005
The Oriel Mostyn Prize
2002
The Jerwood Drawing Prize
_public collections
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The Arts Council Collection, UK
National Collection, France (FNAC) Museum of Israel, Jerusalem
The David Roberts Foundation, London
The Zabludowicz Collection, London
Christchurch Art Gallery, NZ Caldic Collection, The Netherlands
Rochdale Museum of Art, Lancashire University of Edinburgh
Art Collection (Public Commission in Bristo Square, Edinburgh) Museum Voorlinden, The Netherlands
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_bibliography
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Les élixirs de Panacée, Palais Bénédictine, France
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Since I fell for you, Ikon, Birmingham Ed. Nigel Prince. ISBN 978 1 904864592
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For all the things we thought we’d love forever, Seventeen, 2009 ISBN978-0-9554375-4-0
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The Bizarre Perfection, Suzanne Landau, The Israel Museum, 2009, ISBN 978 965 278 366 0
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Art in America, Florence Ostende's Tale of Two Cities, Alice Pfieffer, Feb 2010
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Susan Collis and Kay Rosen, Art Monthly, James Clegg, Oct 2008
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The Times, Nancy Durrant, 26th July 2008, The Knowledge p. 26-28
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Susan Collis, Art World, Paul Carey Kent, Aug/Sept 08
Out of the Ordinary, Laurie Briton Newell, V&A Publications 2007
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Don’t get your hopes up, Seventeen, 2007 ISBN 978 0 9554375 2 6
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An Archaeology, pub. Zabludowicz Collection, 2007
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Bon Magazine, Spring 2007, Friere Barnes
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The Drawing Book: A Survey of Drawing, Ed. Tania Kovats, ISBN 978-1904772811
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_group exhibitions
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2025​​
20 Years of Seventeen, Seventeen Gallery, London, UK
Upcycle, from packaging to Art – Curated by Paul Carey-Kent, GPS Gallery ,London, UK
Immortal apples, Eternal Eggs – Hastings Contemporary Gallery, UK
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2024​​
Life in the Margin –25 Gevaertsdreef 1 Oudenaarde, Belgium
In Focus – A Closer look at Photorealism –Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands
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2023
​​New Moon (2) Voorlinden , Netherlands (with publication)
​​Generator – Bobinska Brownlow Gallery London – March 23
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2021-23
Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
2018
The Unending Gift, Meessen De Clercq, Brussels Landscapes, Seventeen, London
2017
The High Low Show, Laure Genillard Gallery, London [Re]construct, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK (with Arts Council England)
Shored Against Ruin: Fragments from the University of Edinburgh Collections, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Humble as hell, Merz Barn, Cumbria, UK Five Easy Pieces, Large Glass, London
2016
All the best/your sincerely: Radical Positions in London
Painting, Galeria Alegria, Madrid
Material Issue, KMAC Museum, Louisville, Kentucky In the Making Ruskin, Creativity and Craftsmanship, Millennium Gallery, Sheffield, UK
Full Moon, Museum Voordinlen, The Netherlands
2015
A.N.T.H.R.O.P.O.C.E.N.E., Meessen De Clercq, Bruxelles
Art_Textiles, The Whitworth, Manchester Extra/Oridnary, The Whitworth, Manchester
The Needle’s Eye, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design Oslo, Oslo
The Needle’s Eye, KODE, Bergen
2014
Lifelike, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona
Saint Jerome, Meessen de Clercq, Brussels
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Museum of Art, Greensboro, North Carolina
The Needle’s Eye, Kode, Art Museum of Bergen, Bergen
What Marcel Duchamp taught me, The Fine Art Society, London
The Artist’s Chair, Large Glass, London
Small Rome, Frutta, Rome, Italy
2013
Lifelike, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans Lifelike, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego Lifelike, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas L’origine des choses, Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brussels Make Belive, Nottingham
Castle Museum, Nottingham Testing Ground: Disappearing into one, 176 / Zabludowicz Collection, London
2012
Lifelike, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Into the wood, Galerie des Galeries, Paris Curated by Daria de Beauvais
Meanwhile II, John Hansard Gallery, Southampton Look closely now, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, NSW, Australia
Passage, Blindarte Contemporanea, Napoli
2011
The Workers, MASS MoCA, USA
De-building, Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand La Vie Mode d’Emploi (Life a User’s Manual), Messeen De Clerq, Brussels
MYSTICS or RATIONALISTS?, Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh
Into the woods, La Galerie des Galeries, Paris, Curated by Daria de Beauvais
Extended Drawing, Tegnerforbundet Gallery, The Drawing Art Association of Oslo, Norway
Turn, Turn, Turn, Bischoff Weiss, London. Cur. Glenn Adamson
A new Hook. Re-thinking needlework, Museum Bellerive, Zürich
L’art contemporain et son exposition, Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris
Quiet Works, Temple Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia
2010
False documents and other illusions, Portland Museum of Art, Maine
Nod Nod Wink Wink, Taos Museum, New Mexico Les Élixirs de Panacée, Palais Bénédictine, Fecamp, France (with publication)
Look again, Marlborough Chelsea, NY Lean, Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery, NY Les compétences invisibles, Maison Populaire de Montreuil, France
2009
Bizarre Perfection, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, (with publication)
Souvenir, Leeds Metropolitan Gallery, Leeds The Sculpture Show, Eastside Projects, Birmingham Apparently Invisible, The Drawing Center, NY (with publication)
At Your Service, The David Roberts Foundation, London (with publication)
Out of the Ordinary, Tullie House, Carslile
Susan Collis, Ane Mette Hol and Toril Johannessen, Lautoum, Norway No Show, Nicholas Robinson Gallery, NY
2008
Presque Rien, Laure Genillard, London, Curated by Gavin Turk and Cedric Christie
Susan Collis & Graham Dolphin, Galeria Leyendecker, Spain Lure, Galerie Frank Elbaz, Paris
Out of the Ordinary, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
2007
Out of the Ordinary, The V&A Museum, London (with publication)
An Archaeology, Project Space 176, The Zabludowicz Collection (with publication) Isobar, Fieldgate Gallery, London
Ultrasonic International II, Mark Moore Gallery Citadel 1, Front Room/Killing Room, David Risley Gallery, London
Business as Usual, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham Until it makes sense, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Until it makes sense, Seventeen, London
2005
Seventeen Presents…, Seventeen, London Arttextiles3, Touring
Exhibition Thy Neighbours Ox II, Space Station 65 Gallery, London
Taking a line for a walk, The Place, Letchworth Chronic Epoch, Beaconsfield Gallery, London
The Vinyl Project, Cork, Curated by Simon Cutts for Cork City of Culture Drawing 200, The Drawing Room, London
Oriel Mostyn Open 2005, Llandudno, Wales
2004
Free From the Itch of Desire, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
Emergency, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
2003
40 White Chairs, Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, London
Gobbledygook, The Centre of Attention Gallery, London
2002
Jerwood Drawing Prize 2002, Touring
Exhibition Notably, Pump House Gallery, London