Sumi Perera | LOOP artists in print

Mixed media assemblage techniques combine hybrid printmaking techniques (lithography, kiln fired screenprint decals, etching, aquatint, drypoint, monoprint, chine-colle, collagraphs, mezzotint,) with stitch & cutouts. Often several narratives unfold within the hidden spaces of the book as a detachable or magnetic spine allows the book to be undressed. The editorial control is often transferred between author and reader by invitation to re-arrange the sequence of events/pages, by addition/subtraction, inscription/erasure.

A new body of work was designed this year: 2B or not 2B (2016), as a tribute to the 400th death anniversary of William Shakespeare. It is a multi-component 3D print & sound installation that uses electro-conductive inks programmed to generate sound upon touch. The work explores the acoustics of built spaces, and interprets the phrase ‘TO BE OR NOT TO BE’ in various formats: spoken, drawn, written, typed or danced. It was initiated by the sound of 2B and non-2B pencils touching different substrates: paper, canvas, fabric, metal etc., and the resultant sound-waves generated on a sonic visualizer program. The viewer/reader is invited to activate the 12 tracks by touching the different buttons and listening to sounds.

Perera’s work is held in the Tate Britain; Victoria & Albert Museum; Yale Centre for British Art, USA; Guanlan Museum, China; Grafisk vaerksted-Naestved, Denmark; Sakima Art Museum, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan; printROOM, Rotterdam; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery; the Ashmolean Museum Oxford; Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Permanent Art Collection, Egypt; Southern Cross University Collection, Australia; Centre for Artist Books, DCA, Dundee; Brooklyn Library, USA; ULUS Print Triennial Collection, Belgrade, Serbia; British Library.

Perera has been awarded the Prix de Print by Katherine D Alkauskas. She is a fellow of the Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), Society of Designer Craftsmen (MSDC), Society of Graphic Fine Arts (SGFA) and 62 Group, an international textile artist group.

• The Laurence King Publishers Prize ELP Exhibition. Embassy Tea Gallery, London (15th-27th Sept) at the ELP Annual show.
• Prix de Print (Art in Print) awarded by Katherine D Alcauskas (the Prints & Drawings Collections Specialist at MoMA New York) 2015:
• Incline Press-Dave Gordin Award at the Society of Bookbinders International Conference and Competition at Keele University, UK 2015
• Arqadia & Intaglio Prize at Draw 14, Menier Gallery, London.
• 1st recipient of the Guest Artist Full Fellowship awarded to an RE Member. A 6 week Residency & Solo Show. Scuola Internazionale Di Grafica, Venice 2016/17 http://www.scuolagrafica.it/
She has been invited to join • Prism Print International: http://prismprintinternational.com/

www.saatchionline.com/sumiperera
centralbookingnyc.com/galleries/gallery-1-artist-books-prints/artists-work/sumi-perera/
www.textileartist.org/an-interview-with-sumi-perera/