Dr Sumi Perera RE SGFA

Biography 

Sumi Perera obtained a MA from the Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London in 2004, following a medical & scientific career: MBBS, Sri Lanka 1983, MSc & MPhil London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine 1993 & 1996.

Perera exhibits internationally and has won several awards, prizes & residencies. She has work held in many public collections, including the Tate Britain (8 works), the Victoria & Albert Museum (10 works) and the Yale Centre for British Art (2 works). She has exhibited at the Summer Exhibition in 2013 & the London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy annually; and participated in many international biennials & triennials.
She is the first recipient of a guest-artist 6 week full-residency and solo show in Venice at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, awarded to an RE member.

Membership – Society of Designer Craftsmen, Society of Graphic Fine Arts and 62 Group.

Exhibitions

  • Liminal Spaces II-Solo Exhibition. Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, Venice 2017
  • London Original Print Fair. Royal Academy, Piccadilly, London. 2009-2016
  • World Buildings Project-UN 17 SDGs. Launch & Unveiling Minden, Germany. Aug/Sept [-5 years]
  • Sumi Perera et al. Collaborative Projects [SuperPress EDITIONS]. Centre for Fine Print
  • Research, University of West England, Bristol. 2016
  • Pushing Boundaries. Farmleigh Gallery & Dunamaise Arts Centre, Ireland 2016 & 2017
  • 18 RE Members. Highpoint Centre for Printmaking, Minneapolis USA 2016
  • DRAW 16 Menier Gallery, London 2016 (2011-2016)
  • Designer Crafts at the Mall. Mall Galleries, London. 12th-21st August 2015
  • Madonna x 100. The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras, London 2016
  • LOOP 2016. Bankside Gallery, London. 2016
  • Liminal Spaces-Solo Show. Flourish Award Winner. Huddesrfield Art Gallery. 2016
  • National Original Print Exhibition. Bankside Gallery, London. September 2015 & 2016
  • Remix/Reimagine. Impress 2016 International Print Festival. New Brewery Arts, Cirencester
  • Press & Release. Phoenix, Brighton. 2016, 2013 & 2008.
  • Baltic Artists Bookfair. The Baltic, Newcastle. 2013 & 2016.
  • London Print Studio. Summer Exhibition. 2016
  • AMBruno 53 Artist Books. Chelsea College of Art, Library. 2016
  • 4th Biennial International Open Print Show. Wharepuke Print Studio. New Zealand. 16
  • PMC 50th Anniversary Exhibition. Bankside Gallery, London. 2015
  • Power of Ten. Stroud International Textile Festival. Stroud. May 2015
  • Bridges-SGC International Conference. San Francisco. March 2014
  • Works on Paper Fair. Science Museum, London. February 2014
  • Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Piccadilly, London June-August 2013
  • Small Talk. Constance Howard Gallery, Goldsmith University, London. 2013
  • Bainbridge Open. Embassy Tea Gallery. 2013
  • Impact 8 International Conference 2013. Dundee, Scotland. 2013
  • Manly Library Artist Book Awards. Manly Library, Manly, NSW, Australia 2013
  • Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition. Mall Galleries, London 2013
  • Unending. Westminster Reference Library. 2013
  • Going Underground. Shoreditch Town Hall, 2013
  • SKETCH 2013. Rabley Drawing Centre. 2013
  • Al Mutannabi Starts Here. Centre for Bookarts, New York. 2013
  • London Group Centenary Open. Cello Factory 2013
  • Everyday Encounters. William Morris Gallery, London 2012
  • Lost For Words. UCH Gallery. University College Hospital, London 2012
  • Glasgow International Artist Bookfair. Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow 2012
  • Interventions. Platt Hall-Gallery of Costume. Manchester 2012
  • Turn The Page. The Forum, Norwich 2012
  • 6th International Kyoto Hanga 2012. Kyoto City Museum of Art. Japan 2012
  • 3rd Qijang International Print Festival. Qijang, SW China. 2011
  • International Print Biennale-Drawing with Fire. Newcastle, Gateshead 2011
  • 1st International Printmaking Triennial of ULUS. Art Pavilion Belgrade 2011
  • FLUXUS-POST-FLUXUS. The Art Space, Dusseldorf 2011
  • Drawing with Fire. ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede, Netherlands
  • FLUXUS-POST-FLUXUS. The Art Space, Nicosia, Cyprus 2010
  • TEXT. Scuola Internationale di Grafica Venezia, Venice, Italy 2010
  • The London Art Book Fair. Whitechapel Gallery. London 2010
  • The Suite of Lights. Pushkin House. London 2010

Awards, Residencies & Prizes

  • 1st Recipient-Guest Artist Full Fellowship Residency & Solo Show. Scuola Internazionale di Grafica,Venice awarded to a member of the Royal Society of Painters-Printmakers 2016-2017
  • Overall Best in Show Prize-Strathmore Fine Artist Paper Bursary. Draw 16. Menier Gallery. 2016
  • Artist in Residence. National Open Art Competition. Mercers’ Hall. London 2016
  • Prix de Print. Art in Print feature article by Katherine D Alcauskas, MoMA USA 2015
  • Flourish Award-Solo Show_Huddersfield Art Gallery; Residency WYPW 2015
  • Laurence King Publishers Award. Embassy Tea Gallery, London. 2015
  • Incline Press-Dave Godin Award. Soc. of Bookbinders Conference & Competition ‘15
  • Intaglio & Arqadia Award, DRAW 2014, Menier Gallery, London 2014
  • Intaglio Prize-Printathon at the Formans Smokehouse Gallery, London 2012
  • St Cuthbert’s Mill Prize-DRAW 12 (Interpretation of Theme) Menier Gallery, London
  • 1st Prize-Drawing for Design. Rootstein Hopkins Foundation Drawing Exhibition 2011
  • Melville Charitable Trust Award (1st prize) at SHELTER, touring the USA. 2008-2009
  • Distinction-European International Bookart Biennale 2010
  • The Southern Cross University Acquisitive Artist Book Award, Australia. 2009
  • Best Overall Book Design Prize (NPB) & the Aidan Portnall Award (1st prize-Complete Book) Society of Bookbinders International Competition. Warwick University 2009
  • Birgit Skiold Award for excellence in Book Arts, London Artist Bookfair (LAB) ‘05, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) London. 2005
  • Grand Prize-1st International Book Arts Competition, Seoul, South Korea. 2005
    Shortlisted for the 1st Round of the Neo: Print Prize 2016

Method of working

The work often oscillates between the vertical & horizontal planes, adapting between reversible 2D and 3D structures, and are frequently interactive installations. Once a body of work is developed to a point where a distinct ‘voice’ is acquired, then the reader or the viewer is invited to take over the final artistic license. They may alter the sequence, alignment, add/subtract, or inscribe/erase etc. The pieces follows a loose narrative, where the ‘pages’ are bound in a manner that allow this re-formatting and alternate story telling. Sometimes ‘codex’ book-forms are converted into concertina (leporello) formats by withdrawal of a detachable spine, which ‘undresses’ the book, to reveal hidden spaces, providing both a private & public reading respectively.

Teaching Residency

Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, China 2007

Commission

Link Media Systems. 51-52 St Johns Street, London EC1V 4JL  2004

Artist’s Statement

I am an interdisciplinary artist who draws upon my background, working as a doctor, scientist (MSc & MPhil 1994 & 1996) & artist (MA 2004) in the east (Sri Lanka my native country) and the west (UK, my adoptive country of 34 years). I use many different techniques of printmaking, from traditional methods (etching, aquatint, drypoint, silk screen, lithography, mezzotint) to contemporary techniques such as Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) methods: laser cutting, sandblasting etc. I apply these skills mostly to paper, harness textile & stitch techniques to them; and sometimes incorporate metal work, glass & enamelling methods too.

My art examines how the body occupies and navigates through architectural structures. I challenge the notion of boundaries or territories, blur the edges in a non-invasive manner, by using lighting, shadows, mirrors and sound-waves to breach these liminal spaces and question the definition of ‘margins’ between the inside and outside.

The work often oscillates between the vertical & horizontal planes, adapting between reversible 2D and 3D structures, and are frequently interactive installations. Once a body of work is developed to a point where a distinct ‘voice’ is acquired, then the reader or the viewer is invited to take over the final artistic license. They may alter the sequence, alignment, add/subtract, or inscribe/erase etc. The pieces follows a loose narrative, where the ‘pages’ are bound in a manner that allow this re-formatting and alternate story telling. Sometimes ‘codex’ book-forms are converted into concertina (leporello) formats by withdrawal of a detachable spine, which ‘undresses’ the book, to reveal hidden spaces, providing both a private & public reading respectively.