Artist Notes from Granada

(wearing Mara Hoffman dress as a top, Tibi pants, Uniqlo wool top around the neck)

During my one month in Granada, I spend time making new works, pushing the boundaries and comfort zones I have around painting, and the result was shared in this weekend exhibition.

My partner in May is an artist from Montreal Quebec, Andrée-Anne Mercier, who makes super cute tiny acrylic paintings on wood frames. Check out her work below.

We agreed on a joined titled because we felt that it fits both our journey, Mi Camino literally means’ My Way ‘. This does make me think of Sinatra’s My Way song, because I realise that even though I often feel doubt in what I am doing, I always did it myyyyyyy waaaaaaay!

Exhibition title: Mi Camino

"Mi camino", the end-of-residency exhibition of artists Susan Olij and Andrée-Anne Mercier, will present their final creation during the last month at Espacio Lavadero. The action of being in movement, the agitation of the city of Granada and the curiosity of being in a new place, all generates in the artists the birth of creation. By addressing different subjects, both of the artists are trying to deflect fast tourism, by proposing their observation of the last month in the exhibition « Mi camino », a simple translation of « My way » in english and « Mon chemin » in french.

(Susan’s notes about her artworks)

There is a restless nature to Granada that Susan feels, and when she travels the big world, her paintings seeks to encourage slow travel. That doesn’t mean we all have to travel far away to exotic lands but traveling slowly in our small world of our daily life. The artist wants to hear how these paintings feels through the viewer’s cultural filter? (Please write your answers on her personal sketchbook in the gallery or tell her in person if you see her!)

Here are the page of notes, some left drawings and doodles.

Translation of the Castilian Spanish notes:

“Delighted to see you in Granada this month, a real luxury”

“the way in which you make something customary and daily like going shopping is incredible’.

These paintings are studies of the artist moving around in Granada. The artist convey the movements of this city through the cultural filter and disciplines she comes from. Susan Olij is from a mixed culture family living in South East Asia. Born in Indonesia, she has lived in big cities like New York and London and now in Singapore. Susan has travelled to 39 countries and has made slow travel a big part of her art practice. Susan encourage people to have conversations with her during the exhibition or connect on DM with her on instagram. (IG: olijstudio_travels)

(Andree-Anne’s notes about her artworks)

During her journey at Espacio Lavadero, Andrée-Anne Mercier focus her observation in the architecture of everyday life, particularly the house in its environment, as well as the digital gaze we have on these places. She represent, between illusion and reality, places that she met during her personal journey in different districts of the city of Granada, has Albaicin, Centro y la Chana, through the manipulation of the initial image under a digital angle. As her first time in Europe, Mercier is captivate by the small details surrounding the doors and windows in Granada, the artist is interested in adding these type of frames into her work. The project in two steps reflects on how the blending of the real and the virtual changes not only the art object itself, but also our perception of the initial place.  Her final presentation at Espacio Lavadero is only the beginning of a variety of work to be continue back home.

Her website is here

Andrée-Anne Mercier and her works

Our exhibition poster at the gallery space

Gallery Espacio Lavadero from the street

Espacio Lavadero gallery, minutes before it opens to public.

The big pieces I produced was 100 x 70 cm, and I hung it like laundry here at the roof of our apartment in Albayzin because it’s a daily life features, we do our laundry, and here they hang like everyone’s laundry.

Albayzin is designed during the caliphate of Nazrid, back in the 11th Century when Granada was Muslim. It is the hilly parts of Granada where streets are cobbled and set up like in an Arabic Medina, winding and maze-like. This artwork also shows that mysterious structure on the top of the hill that no one knows what it is. (google also doesn’t know!)

The work is produced over the course of the month residency on Canson 350 gsm watercolour paper, (not 100% cotton). It is the biggest watercolour paper I could find. Challenging my comfort zone of size, but also I realise that this is a comfortable size for me. Produced on the dining table of the apartment because the shared studio space was in- adequate.

The studio space is next to the gallery which is about 30 minutes walk from the apartment on another part of town.

Espacio Carniceria, 100 x 70 cm , Canson Watercolour paper, 350gsm

This piece is my extension of the Singapore Hawkers in Watercolour series, bigger, and a typical specialty shop in Granada. The shop would sell all cured meats of all kinds, mainly called Jamon Iberico (Cured pork leg sliced ultra thinly) and they also sell some variety of cheeses. This is a particular scene but not a specific shop. I sold a piece of painting to a specific Jamonzar shop in the market, and he was wondering where this is, and tried to guess.

Just like in Singapore, this is a daily life place where people come to buy their cured meat, often served with red or crisp white wine.

Study of Cebolla Tierna. 30 x 40 cm watercolour paper.

This is one of a few studies I did earlier in the month where I started to noticed that this kind of ' spring onion’ is typical of Spain, but we don’t see this type here in Asia. I cooked with this spring onion every week, and it is delicious.

This work is done as part of my plan to study the spectrum of ‘shapes and form’ from abstract to realism. Below are the other studies and a closer look at this one!

Thanks for reading up to the end.

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