The Armory Show has commissioned British artist Susan Collis to create the visual identity for the 2010 fair. Collis’s artwork, which concentrates on meticulous recreations of everyday objects, will set the aesthetic for the fair’s look, will be featured in all of the fair’s advertising and marketing materials and will be showcased in the catalogue. This will be the ninth year The Armory Show has commissioned an artist to define the image of the fair.
Collis is known for painstaking facsimiles of mundane objects, which force viewers to reconsider details they may not have initially paid attention to. In "Made Good" (2007), a typical piece for the artist, what initially looks like a Phillips screw sticking out of the gallery wall is in fact made of gems and precious metals. As part of the installation/performance “SWEAT" (2008), a digital clock seems to mark time in the background; but the display is not an LCD – instead, the time is a stop-motion animation composed of 12,000 individual drawings. Emblematic of Collis' extreme perseverance, the clock is unfinished and will take approximately two more years to complete.
According to Executive Director Katelijne De Backer, “We are very pleased to have Susan Collis represent The Armory Show 2010. Her attention to detail will make for a memorable esthetic for the fair, and her playful tweaking of viewers’ expectations will remind us to look beyond the surface."
Susan Collis has exhibited in the United States, France and throughout the United Kingdom. Her work was recently featured as part of Out of the Ordinary at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She is represented by SEVENTEEN, London.
Susan Collis Made good (DETAIL), 2007; coral, black onyx, 18 carat white gold (hallmarked), diamond, silver Courtesy of the artist and Seventeen, London