Jess Sutton

Artist statement

Working closely with environments to capture their essence, the artist continues her fascination with the human perception of space and time. Born in the East Coast town of Grimsby, The Brussels based artist graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2004. Originally working as a video installation artist, she continues her work in a range of media including painting, collage and installation. Using photography as a way of capturing moments, the artist explores landscapes through the selective use of the frame. The finished work is open to the viewer, provoking many understandings, experiences, memories and definitions through the simplicity of its form. By re-framing and emphasising often overlooked occurrences within environments, she hopes to add significance to the place of the viewer and their perspective in a world that can change within the blink of an eye. Here the Artist reflects on her interest in the concept of time:

"In that landscape I felt so small, engulfed by the enormity of the sky. I have spent a lot of time in that landscape, thinking about the passage of time, in which we all exist but cannot fully comprehend. Sometimes it's as if I am on a train, intercepting many moments as time rushes by. I can think of moments ahead knowing once they have passed, all I will be able to hold onto is an echo. I find time fascinating and even though there is a way of measuring it I know sometimes there is no sense of it slipping by. Landscapes feel endless to me but they are different, with a camera I can capture them and feel what they are like, by re-creating them perhaps I can stop time, just for a moment."

Painting has become a way of creating the ultimate still. The artist is best known for her sky paintings, representations of time which act as interventions in the spaces they are placed in. Use of the title has become increasingly important in these works, the sky becomes a space for reflection on the title that it inspired. The Artist is currently working on a range of new works for exhibition including installations, digital work, writing, book binding and painting. She continues to collect moments and visual echoes, sometimes juxtaposing different times and spaces together. Glass and glass like surfaces both as a subject and as a material are becoming increasingly important in the artist’s work, as is her continued interest in the writings of Gaston Bachelard.

In October 2008 Sutton was awarded second prize in The Carter Jonas Prize for a Young Artist by Cambridge Drawing Society, for her painting Gravity (Christmas Eve 2004). Her limited edition artists book; Skylogue was winner of 'Photobook Of The Year' at the Digital Printer Awards 2010.