2020
Unfurl: Writing and Art, Stephen J Williams
A preview of Susan Wald’s upcoming exhibition at the Mildura Arts Centre, 5 March to 3 May 2020. http://bit.ly/unfurly1
Biography
SUSAN WALD
In a light-filled studio, she works on the monoprints, the most hand-made method of printmaking and the one most open to accident and resolution. Preoccupied with defining figures inhabiting their own internal logic of mood, space and light, as she concentrates, her mind is freed to dip below the conscious to trace the rocks and fissures of a female psyche.
The oil paintings, of solitary figures that are estranged, and are a further meditative abstraction using a limited range of colours and the direct force of her mark-makings to sustain a drama as we approach these figures reaching out to us.
(Extract: THE MAKING, DR. M E MCGUIRE)
1989 — 1991
BACHELOR OF FINE ARTS, PAINTING,
HONOURS FIRST CLASS, VICTORIA
COLLEGE, PRAHRAN
1986 — 1988
STUDIED DRAWING WITH ARTIST & TEACHER PATRICK MOSS
EXHIBITION LIST
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
MUNGO Exhibition, Hosted by Queenscliff Gallery at Fortyfivedownstairs
2021
MUNGO PRINTS, Exhibition, Printmaker Gallery, Fitzroy
2020
MUNGO PRINTS, Virtual Exhibition, Printmaker Gallery, Fitzroy
MUNGO, PAINTINGS AND PRINTS, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura
2017
CROW, PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER, Langford120, North Melbourne
THEATRE PAINTINGS, Janet Clayton Gallery, Paddington
2016
DESERT MONOPRINTS, The Art Vault, Mildura
2015
THEATRE PAINTINGS & MONOPRINTS, Langford120, North Melbourne
2014
A SURVEY SHOW OF THEATRE & FIGURE WORK, The Art Vault, Mildura
2013
MONOPRINTS, Langford 120, North Melbourne
2012
PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER, Langford 120, North Melbourne
2010
THE DOG THEATRE IN CONJUNCTION WITH PERFORMANCE OF ‘ELEKTRA’ BY SOPHOCLES, The Dog Theatre, Footscray
2008
THE FIGURE, WORK IN PROGRESS, Ochre Gallery, Collingwood
2006
CLEAN KILL, Ochre Gallery, Collingwood
CLEAN KILL, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale
2005
CLEAN KILL, Geelong Gallery, Geelong
1998
STAIRWELL SERIES, Helen Gory Galerie, Richmond
1996
THREE SOLO EXHIBITIONS, Helen Gory Galerie, Richmond
1994
COLLECTION IN CONTEXT, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington
ANTHILL THEATRE IN CONJUNCTION WITH PERFORMANCE OF ‘STRATEGY FOR TWO HAMS BY IONESCO, Anthill Theatre, Gasworks
1992
GILGUL THEATRE IN CONJUNCTION WITH PERFORMANCE OF ‘ES BRENT’ BY BARRIE KOSKY, Town Hall Motors, Balaclava
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
WINTER SALON, Queenscliff Gallery, Queenscliff
2021
SQUARE OF SUNLIGHT, Curated by Helen Gory, Backwoods Gallery, Collingwood
2020
20[2020], Tacit Gallery, Collingwood
EDITIONS 20, Tacit Gallery, Collingwood
2019
VISUALISING MILDURA, The Art Vault Vault, Mildura
LAYERS OF SETTLEMENT EXHIBITION/SYMPOSIUM, La Trobe University & The Art Vault, Mildura
EDITIONS 19, Tacit Gallery, Collingwood
2018
APT PRINT AWARD, Mildura
IMPRESSIONS 2018, Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy
LOCUS (DISTINCT), Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop, Queenscliff
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY, Printmaking Exhibition, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, N.S.W
EDGE, Global Centre For Drawing, Langford120, North Melbourne
BEAUTY OR BEAST, Queenscliff Gallery & Workshop, Queenscliff
EDITIONS 18, Tacit Gallery, Collingwood
2017
THREE WOMEN, Janet Clayton Gallery, Paddington, N.S.W
WORKS, Tacit Gallery, Abbotsford
CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN DRAWING #7, Langford120, North Melbourne
2016
IMPRESSIONS 2016, Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy
CREATURES, Queenscliff Gallery and Workshop, Queenscliff
PLACES, Queenscliff Gallery and Workshop, Queenscliff
2006—2016: A DECADE OF PRINTMAKING, A CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY ART COLLECTION EXHIBITION, Griffith Regional Art Gallery, N.S.W
CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY ART COLLECTION, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, N.S.W
2015
CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN DRAWING #5: FACSIMILE EXHIBITION, Saci Gallery, Saci Institute, Florence, Italy
GIPPSLAND PRINT AWARD,
Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale
TRAJECTORIES — FIFTEEN, Langford120, North Melbourne
2014
IMPRESSIONS 2014, Australian Print Workshop, Fitzroy
13 MELBOURNE PRINTMAKERS, Joshua McClelland Print Room & Rathdowne Galleries, Carlton North
2013
PORTAS ABERTAS — OPEN DOORS PROJECT, Forum Fundacao Eugenio De Almeida, Evora, Portugal
2009
POST, Place Gallery, Richmond
Ochre Gallery, Collingwood
2005
Ochre Gallery, Collingwood
2004
RETURN OF THE WHITE BULL,
Geelong Gallery, Geelong
1999
FINDING BEFORE SEEKING,
Helen Gory Galerie, Prahran
1996
GROUP OF FIVE, Chapel Off Chapel, Prahran
1996—2000
ANNUAL SUMMER PRINT SHOW,
Helen Gory Galerie, Prahran
1993
AN EXHIBITION OF CONTEMPORARY ART, JEWISH FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne
THE GOLUM, CURATED BY BARRIE KOSKY, JEWISH FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS, Jewish Museum, Melbourne
ANTHILL THEATRE IN CONJUNCTION WITH PERFORMANCE OF ‘THE CHAIRS’ BY IONESCO, South Melbourne
ACQUISITIVE PRINT AWARD, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington
1991
RICHMOND ACQUISITIVE ART AWARD, Richmond Town Hall, Richmond
GRADUATE EXHIBITION, Perth Institute Of Contemporary Arts (Pica) , Perth
1990
ARTWORKS 2, South Melbourne Town Hall, South Melbourne
1989
ARTWORKS 1, South Melbourne Town Hall, South Melbourne
1987
Distelfink Gallery, Hawthorn
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
—
2012
Featured Artworks in ‘Wakey Wakey’ by Adrian Goodman, VCA Masters Film
2010
Collaboration With Director Adena Jacobs And Company Fraught Outfit, Recording The Process And Performance Through Drawing, Painting And Printmaking. PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER Exhibited In Conjunction With Performance Of ‘Elektra’ By Sophocles, Footscray
1994
Anthill Theatre, Director Jean Pierre Mignon, Recording The Process And Performance Through Drawing, Painting And Printmaking. PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER Exhibited In Conjunction With Performance Of ‘Strategy For Two Hams’ By Ionesco, Gasworks, Albert Park
1992
Anthill Theatre, Director Jean Pierre Mignon, Recording The Process And Performance Through Drawing, Painting And Printmaking. PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER Exhibited In Conjunction With Performance Of ‘The Chairs’, By Ionesco, South Melbourne
1992
Gilgul Theatre, Director Barrie Kosky, Recording The Process And Performance Through Drawing, Painting And Printmaking Of ‘The Dybuk’, ‘Es Brent’ And ‘Levad’ – Gilgul’s Exile Trilogy By Barrie Kosky. PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER Exhibited In Conjunction With Performance Of ‘Es Brent’, Town Hall Motors, Balaclava
1991
Anthill Theatre, Director Jean Pierre Mignon, Recording The Process And Performance Through Drawing, Painting and Printmaking. PAINTINGS AND WORKS ON PAPER, Exhibited In Conjunction With Performance Of ‘Endgame’ By Samuel Beckett
PUBLICATIONS & REVIEWS
2017
Shadow Worlds, Maria Zagala
2017
Susan Wald - A Quest for Humanity's unmasked self, Hoa Gruber
2017
The Exile Trilogy, Jansson Antmann
2017
WORDS, Peter Lyssiotis
From the utter silence of my mirror
The raucous call of a crow:
So much beauty in such dark rain.
The crow opens its wide beak
And gulps down the remaining light:
The world returns to black.
Around the crow’s eye:
The madness
Of empires.
2016
Process: Susan Wald, Artist Profile Magazine, Issue 35
2016
The Exile Trilogy: Levad 4, Dr. Thomas A Middlemost
Wald first made monotypes whilst in art school in 1989-91, and continues to make them in conjunction with her painting. Unlike most monotypists, who use the medium for a short time and discard it, Wald is building an important body of both figurative and landscape monotypes.
2015
Adena Jacobs' Opening Speech, Theatre Paintings & Monoprints
"I was drawn to Elektra because I was struck by the image of a woman who refuses to stop mourning. Elektra famously places herself on the threshold of her house and becomes a site of grief and abjection. She is told to move on, she is judged, punished and scrutinised, but all she can do is lament."
,
,
2015
Article on Art.Base, On THEATRE PAINTINGS & MONOPRINTS, (Online Article)
2015
Crossing the line 3: Global Drawing, Janet McKenzie - Studio International
“Susan Wald’s painting is both intense and impressive. Her monoprint for CAD #5 manages to convey on a small scale a sense of loss and alienation.”
2015
Drama and Theatre in the Work of Susan Wald, Michael Cathcart
“It features many small paintings, some moody monoprints and eight large paintings of solitary figures, who seemed to be fashioned out of raw, sensory experience”
2015
RATAS goes to Langford 120, Ratas Editions
… and falls in love with PAINT! at a wonderful exhibition of Susan Wald’s Theatre Paintings & Monoprints.
2015
THEATRE PAINTINGS & MONOPRINTS, Prologue Text By Dr. M. E. McGuire, (Exhibition Catalogue)
2014
Book - THEATRE MONOPRINTS 2012-14, (Metasenta Publications)
2013
Article on Art. Base, on THEATRE PAINTINGS & MONOPRINTS (Online Article)
2012
JOURNEYS INTO DRAWING IN CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIAN DRAWING #1, Dr. Christopher Heathcote By Janet Mckenzie
2011
SINGING FOR ALL HE’S WORTH, Book Cover Portrait Of Jacob Rosenberg. — Essays In Honour Of Jacob G. Rosenberg, Edited By Alex Skovron, Raimond Gaita And Alex Miller, Picador
2008
AROUND THE GALLERIES, Ashley Crawford, The Age, October 11
2008
SLOW ART FEEDS HUNGER FOR THE BODY, Jeff Makin, Herald Sun, October 10
2008
The Figure Work in Progress, Dr. Christopher Heathcote, (Catalogue Essay)
'Because you also need an understanding of what your drawing instrument and brushes are capable of, as well as an ability to look closely and precisely at things, an understanding of shade, a grasp of human anatomy perhaps, and of course, a mixture of graphic and painterly inventiveness...'
2007
SUSAN WALD (MITTELMAN) IN UNTITLED, PORTRAITS OF AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS, Dr. Christopher Heathcote, (Macmillan Art Publication)
Expression is a recklessly overused word. ‘I was being expressive’ has become the flimsy excuse of the untrained or inept, the public having made the term synonymous with the muddled composition usually seen in an amateur art show. This is why professional artists will hesitate before describing a colleague as an expressionist. How then to do justice to the oeuvre of Susan Wald? Her paintings and drawings are the real thing. They express. There is no way to discuss them without confronting a genuine psychological weight. Some inner truth is externalised, is being pressed out.
2007
UNTITLED, PORTRAITS OF AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS, Sonia Payes, (Macmillan Art Publication)
2006
BLOODY BATTLE, Sightlines Critical Guide, Penny Webb, The Age, April 7
2006
CLEAN KILL, V. Majzner Opening Speech
“When she is on the run of an idea, Sue paints and draws obsessively. The walls of her studio get gradually covered floor to ceiling with drawings and paintings. Her process usually begins with drawing. Drawing enables her to figure out her ideas, to get inside her subject matter, to understand it. Sometimes it also means that she has to work ‘on location’ as in the case of this series of works. I recently asked her ‘what made you stay in the abattoir to draw and paint in such a morbid place — couldn’t you just work from photographs?’ ‘I just had to be there was her reply.’ Sue commits to her subject matter with a passion…”
2006
Melbourne Magazine Issue,
Meagan Backhouse, The Age, 18 April
2005
Clean Kill, Dr. Christopher Heathcote, (Catalogue Essay)
Very clearly Susan Wald’s evolving oeuvre is at odds with our increasingly materialist society. She does not bend to the demands it places upon artists to deliver work that is pretty, superficial and undemanding. The artist refuses to be a decorator. Instead she directly confronts some plain, if unpalatable facts about the human condition. Not prettiness, but truth.
2001
AUSTRALIAN PAINTING, 1788—2000, Bernard Smith With Terry Smith And Christopher Heathcote
“The waning of conventional expressionism was highlighted by the efforts of the few expressive artists who squarely faced those dark, irrational moments in human behaviour. Susan Mittelman, for instance, honed an art of quiet agony with the simplest of means: emotive brushwork and a monochrome palette. Her oil studies, which have us gaze down upon a nude woman lying awkwardly at the foot of a stairwell, succinctly evoke the distress of the wounded and vulnerable, of those who feel flung down a well of misery by an uncaring world.”
1998
SUSAN MITTELMAN: PAINTINGS AND MONOPRINTS, Chris Boyd, The Big Issue, May—June Issue
Adena Jacobs' Letter, THEATRE PAINTINGS & MONOPRINTS
ACQUISITIONS & ACCOLADES
RESIDENCY
_
2021
THE ART VAULT, MILDURA
2020
THE ART VAULT, MILDURA
2018
THE ART VAULT, MILDURA
2016
THE ART VAULT, MILDURA
2014
THE ART VAULT, MILDURA
AWARDS
2019
PRINT COMMISSION, PRINT COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA
2018
FINALIST, AUSTRALIAN PRINT AWARD, AUSTRALIAN PRINT TRIENNIAL, MILDURA
2013
SEMI-FINALIST, DOUG MORAN NATIONAL PORTRAIT PRIZE
1992
MORNINGTON PENINSULA PRINTS, ACQUISITIVE AWARD COLLECTION
1991
DEAN’S ACQUISITIVE AWARD, VICTORIA COLLEGE, PRAHRAN
1990
DAVID ROSENTHAL ACQUISITIVE AWARD
1989
NEXUS DESIGN AWARD
COLLECTIONS
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL GALLERY
AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
AUSTRALIAN PRINT WORKSHOP
BHP COLLECTION
CHARLES STURT UNIVERSITY
GIPPSLAND ART GALLERY
MORNINGTON PENINSULA REGIONAL GALLERY
PRINT COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA ARCHIVE
STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
THE ART VAULT, MILDURA
TWEED REGIONAL GALLERY, NSW
TOOWOOMBA REGIONAL GALLERY, QLD
UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG, NSW
VICTORIAN COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS