It seems significant that my initial thoughts for this short essay came to me in a dream state - not quite awake but not out cold. I’ve been trying to make sense of Suzanne O’Haire’s beautiful, poised little assemblages for some time now. These shards of discarded matter - fragments of tail light scattered after an Ill-judged reversing manoeuvre, unidentifiable elements of industrial detritus, an extremely small pompom - seemingly brought together and arranged by the artist as some kind of compulsive tidying tactic and turned into exquisite and intriguing little sculptures. In the very union of their elements, these very small assemblages come to generate powerful telesmatic force.
Collecting free materials for repurposing has great history in art over the past hundred years or so - from scraps of wine labels for adventures in dimensions by Braque and Picasso to the fervid twisting and wrapping of the unknown Philadelphia Wireman - but O’Haire’s sculptures remind me particularly (though not visually) of Alan Vega’s nocturnal habits. He would roam the downtown streets of NY in the early hours, retreating to his place near Wall Street after skirmishing in the Punk Wars, scouring the pavements and alleys for things to include in his large sculptures - bits of cable, light fittings, metal parts of who knows what - turning his apartment into a dumping ground of potential sculptures waiting for their moment, like arms and legs at a foundry. And although both artists share a corvid acquisitive and a fondness for neon lights, O’Haire’s scavenging takes a more refined approach, both in structure and palette - often silver and metallic colour with flashes of fluorescence. The tiniest elements can be street-harvested and brought back to the studio for use, perhaps immediately if the part fits a work in progress or stored in ranks of boxes for later inclusion. That refinement continues in their assembly - one miniature part balances perfectly on another, something is poured into a tiny well, a dead bauble is reanimated by proximity to scrap mirrored plastic, a small fluorescent arc unifies seven or eight exquisitely disparate parts in a process which implies millimetre could be carefully assessed. While most of these works are plinth based, one I particularly have my eye on is called don’t (2017), an intriguing wall-based work with shimmering eye-line planes of reflective elements underhung with elegantly arcing chains.
I’m loath to call O’Haire’s works intimate just because they’re smaller than Vega’s, but there is some truth in this, simply because O’Haire’s work needs a shallower breath, a focussing of the eye and quizzical approach, before they begin to release their carefully poised charm. In looking down we internally look up. The elements by themselves may be discarded and lost, but brought together they generate a lovely warmth and power. Rebecca Solnit in her book Wanderlust (pub. Verso, 2001) describes individual marchers coming together to form a superpower, and there’s something here that takes pleasure in the beauty and potential of the individual, yet rejoices in the unity. That may not be the artist’s intention here, but I’m going to pick it up and take it.
John Marchant, peck o’ trouble exhibition catalogue
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CV
born: London UK
now: East Sussex UK
solo exhibitions
2025 Windows of Wonder: Lewes, East Sussex
2021 manic panic: Pallas Projects, Dublin
2018 peck o' trouble: The Regency Town House, Brighton
1999 Relax: Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1995 Fine Specimens: Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
1993 Ants in Your Pants: Rebecca Hossack Gallery@ St. James’s Piccadilly, London
1992 Serious Tin: Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
group exhibitions | projects
2026 Revellious: Strange Cargo Arts, Folkestone … UPCOMING | Postcards for Seyðisfjörður: Icelandic Embassy, Copenhagen | Newhaven Open: Newhaven Art Projects, Marine Workshops, East Sussex
2025 The All Dressed Up but Nowhere to Show Show: Phoenix Art Space, Brighton | Small Works: Newhaven Art Space, East Sussex | Postcards for Seyðisfjörður: Icelandic Embassy, London | Postcards for Seyðisfjörður: Seyðisfjörður, Iceland
2024 Paper Work: Newhaven Art Space, East Sussex | Newhaven Open: Newhaven Art Projects, Marine Workshops, East Sussex
2022 Things will Continue to Change…: The Koppel Project Hive, London
2021 Back to Nature (phase 2): Full Frontal Eastbourne, East Sussex | ABCOA: Artists’ Book Cooperative (international network) | Closed Exhibition (online)
2020 Message on a Bottle: 201 Telephone Box Gallery, Fife | Reflections: Museum of Ordinary People, Newhaven | Greenness is a Kind of Grief: Y.A.R.D. Project Space - postponed*
2019 Haiku: Window Gallery, Phoenix Art Space, Brighton | TIME after [ ( ) ] after TIME: The Briggait, Glasgow | Library in a Day: Fabrica, Brighton
2017 Be Right Back: Rhoda Street Studios, London | In Nothing Flat: Old Granada Studios, Manchester | Exeter Contemporary Open: Exeter Phoenix | Collective: Devonshire Collective, Eastbourne
2016 Then Me Too: John Marchant Gallery in association with Galerie Simpson, Swansea | Europa: Transition Gallery, London | Then Me: John Marchant Gallery in association with Eagle Gallery and Emma Hill London | Salvage. Restore. Repair: Gallery202, Northamptonshire
2015 A.P.T Creekside Open: (selected by Richard Deacon): A.P.T Gallery, London
2014 Thinking / Drawing: Curious Projects, Eastbourne | Sussex Open (selected by Matthew Cornford and Becky Beasley): Towner Gallery, Eastbourne
2010 think. make.: Camberwell College of Arts | Gift: Camberwell College of Arts | oh madm: Camberwell College of Arts
2000 England & Co. Gallery, London
1999 Cambridge Contemporary Art Gallery, Cambridge | Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester
1998 Cambridge Contemporary Art Gallery, Cambridge | Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester
1997 Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester
1996 The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh | Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester
1995 Spring Greens: Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester | The Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
1994 Animal Magic: Brewery Arts Centre, Cirencester | Exhibition of Sorts: Gallery 47, London | Gifts for Valentine: Ruthin Crafts Centre, Clwyd | Christmas Exhibition: Ruthin Craft Centre, Clwyd | Christmas Exhibition: New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham | Christmas Exhibition: Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester | Open Sesame: The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal, Cumbria | The Craft Centre + Foyer Gallery, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester | Bluecoat Display Centre, Bluecoat Chambers, Liverpool | Box Art: Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery
1993 Christmas Exhibition: Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester | Christmas Exhibition: New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham | Art in Boxes III: England & Co. Gallery, London | Bluecoat Display Centre, Bluecoat Chambers, Liverpool | The Summer Exhibition: Andrew Usiskin Gallery, London | The Craft Centre + Foyer Gallery, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester | Stars: Southern Arts touring exhibition: Banbury Museum, West Dean College, Isambard Brunel School, Fair Oak School, Scaplen’s Court Museum, Westbury Manor Museum and Walford Mill Craft Centre
1992 Decorative Arts Show: Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London | The Poetry Show: Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London | Art in Boxes II: England & Co. Gallery, London | Animalarium: Arthouse Route 76 Gallery, London | Music of the Spheres: Rebecca Hossack Gallery@ St. James’s Piccadilly, London | Fine....Cannibals: organised by the ‘Designer-Maker Network’ touring exhibition: Oldham Art Gallery, Peter Scott Gallery Lancaster, Stockport Art Gallery and Warrington Museum and Art Gallery
1991 Salvaged! Art in a Throwaway World: Royal Festival Hall, London | Art in Boxes: England & Co. Gallery, London
1990 Storm: Association of Illustrators Gallery (AOI), London
residencies | awards | membership
2019 Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) International Residency
2018 a-n The Artists Information Company: Mentoring Bursary
2017 Mark Devereux Projects: StudioBook17
2015 MRBS | Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors
publications | events
2026 How to Enter the Art World: The After Sessions hosted by Hettie Judah with Abigail Norris, Isobel Smith, Suzanne O’Haire and Helen Turner: Brighton Festival 60 - Shhh… Abigail Norris & Isobel Smith: Marine Workshops, Newhaven … UPCOMING
2024 A3/4 publication by fifthsyllable: Issue 9
2022 Things Will Continue to Change: Panel Discussion chaired by Anna McNay with Matthew Burrows and Suzanne O’Haire: The Koppel Project Hive, London | studio international magazine: Things Will Continue to Change … | All About Shipping magazine: Things Will Continue to Change - London artists' new work on show in aftermath of the pandemic
2021 ABCOA: ABC Artists’ Books Cooperative: Certificate of Authenticity (CoA)
2018 peck o’ trouble: exhibition catalogue, self published
2016 Garageland magazine Issue #20: Remake Remodel
1995 The Sunday Telegraph: A Posy for Mother’s Day - Britain’s top artists create original bouquets
1992 Benson and Hedges: calendar (photography Sam Haskins)
1991 20/20 European magazine: Zodiacs
1990 Creative Review Magazine: Squaring Up to the Market
education
2010 Camberwell College of Arts UAL - MA (Distinction)
1990 Camberwell College of Arts UAL - BA (First)
associate lecturer
2011 Working Men’s College Camden
2006 - 2011 Wimbledon College of Art UAL
1993 - 2004 Richmond Upon Thames College
1992 In association with Manchester Metropolitan University: student studio placements