Suley is a British artist of Jamaican, Nigerian and Polish heritage, and a graduate of the University of Leeds and Harvard Law School. A Sir Frank Bowling scholar on the Painting programme at the Royal College of Art, Suley’s practice is concerned with what his work does in the mind of the viewer – using the sensory, almost physical, experience of optical illusions to both force confrontation with and wrestle autonomy from the observer, whilst interrogating themes of impermanence and change.
Perception and representation are as much components of the science of optics as they are daily facets of the human experience, especially for the marginalised. In combining optical illusions and figuration - fusing painting with sculpture, design and textiles to centre the unseen, Suley invites the viewer to question where and how such communities and ideas exist within our individual and collective psyches.
Exploring this ephemerality has expanded my practice to include performance – claimed by feminist scholar Peggy Phelan as that which becomes itself through disappearance. Drawing upon the way oral storytelling, live recitation and music have enabled memory to remain within collective Black bodies, I seek to challenge this definition - highlighting instead how performance can give access to embodied histories, making the vulnerable more visible.
Suley’s human rights work consistently informs his artistic subject matter, and his legal training has inspired a creative aesthetic based on order, control and precedent. Suley cites Bridget Riley, Matt Collishaw and Tomashi Jackson as artists who have expanded his practice, alongside the literary works of Octavia Butler and the sounds of SAULT.
Solo exhibitions
The Middle Pillar - Café X, San Diego, 2022
750 - Somewhere Good, New York City, 2022
Running in the Rain - Crossings Gallery, Allston, 2022
B[L]ackground - Monochrome Whitechapel, London, 2021
Curated exhibitions
All That We Are - Harvard, 2022
Group Exhibitions
From the One to the Many - Saatchi Gallery, 2024
PORTALS - Royal Over-Seas League, 2024
Come By Here - Studio/Chappelle, 2024
Earthen Reverie, RCA Africa - Royal College of Art, 2024
Sanokfa, RCA BLK - Royal College of Art, 2023
Fall Protection Only - Royal College of Art, 2023
Optics - Ko Artspace, Lagos, 2023
Kaleidoscope of Dreams - Institute Museum of Ghana, Accra, 2023
Art law lectures
AdvocArt - The Mix, Accra, 2023
A Conversation on Art Law - Royal College of Art, London, 2023
![Suley is a British artist of Jamaican, Nigerian and Polish heritage, and a graduate of the University of Leeds and Harvard Law School. A Sir Frank Bowling scholar on the Painting programme at the Royal College of Art, Suley’s practice is concerned with what his work does in the mind of the viewer – using the sensory, almost physical, experience of optical illusions to both force confrontation with and wrestle autonomy from the observer, whilst interrogating themes of impermanence and change.
Perception and representation are as much components of the science of optics as they are daily facets of the human experience, especially for the marginalised. In combining optical illusions and figuration - fusing painting with sculpture, design and textiles to centre the unseen, Suley invites the viewer to question where and how such communities and ideas exist within our individual and collective psyches.
Exploring this ephemerality has expanded my practice to include performance – claimed by feminist scholar Peggy Phelan as that which becomes itself through disappearance. Drawing upon the way oral storytelling, live recitation and music have enabled memory to remain within collective Black bodies, I seek to challenge this definition - highlighting instead how performance can give access to embodied histories, making the vulnerable more visible.
Suley’s human rights work consistently informs his artistic subject matter, and his legal training has inspired a creative aesthetic based on order, control and precedent. Suley cites Bridget Riley, Matt Collishaw and Tomashi Jackson as artists who have expanded his practice, alongside the literary works of Octavia Butler and the sounds of SAULT.
Solo exhibitions
The Middle Pillar - Café X, San Diego, 2022
750 - Somewhere Good, New York City, 2022
Running in the Rain - Crossings Gallery, Allston, 2022
B[L]ackground - Monochrome Whitechapel, London, 2021
Curated exhibitions
All That We Are - Harvard, 2022
Group Exhibitions
From the One to the Many - Saatchi Gallery, 2024
PORTALS - Royal Over-Seas League, 2024
Come By Here - Studio/Chappelle, 2024
Earthen Reverie, RCA Africa - Royal College of Art, 2024
Sanokfa, RCA BLK - Royal College of Art, 2023
Fall Protection Only - Royal College of Art, 2023
Optics - Ko Artspace, Lagos, 2023
Kaleidoscope of Dreams - Institute Museum of Ghana, Accra, 2023
Art law lectures
AdvocArt - The Mix, Accra, 2023
A Conversation on Art Law - Royal College of Art, London, 2023](https://sitestorage.art.art/suley.art/d3ebe93917e9383c231b0fa2172d54d0.jpeg)