Sue Tilley and Rui Ferreira

Sue Tilley (b. 1957), also known as Big Sue, is an artist, artist's model and writer. Most notably, she modelled for painter Lucian Freud. Tilley collaborated, and was best friends, with performance artist and club promoter Leigh Bowery. In 1997, she published Leigh Bowery: The life and times of an Icon, a biography. Freud painted several large nude portraits of Tilley, the first being Evening in the Studio (1993). Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, painted in 1995, was sold at auction for £35 million ($56 million USD).

We discuss a brand new exhibition at The Sunday Painter in South London - the first painting show of Portuguese artist Rui Miguel Leitão Ferreira (b.1977) in the UK. Curated by Daniel Malarkey, the exhibition sees Ferreira further develop his self-portrait series

Posing for Sue.

The works on show explore Ferreira's relationship with close friend and mentor Sue Tilley – widely known for her long-standing professional relationship with Lucian Freud – whilst subtly manipulating and subverting the complex dialogue between the three subjects traditionally involved in portraiture: the portrayed, the artist and the observer. The artist first met Tilley at a charity event in 2013. An in-depth exploration into the experiences of life models within the realm of fine art had recently prompted Ferreira to begin modelling himself, a disquieting endeavour that left the artist feeling increasingly vulnerable and directionless when it came to his own practice. Ferreira found solace in Tilley’s gaze, eventually leading the two to forge a close friendship. Inspired by the powerful artist-model dynamic between Freud and Tilley – whose iconic four-year professional relationship saw Freud produce perhaps some of his most acclaimed and psychologically charged nude portraits – Ferreira sought to capture the intimacy of time spent between artist and sitter through the specificity of paint.

Rather than simply mirroring the pair’s relationship, however, the Posing for Sue series attempts to subvert art history’s long established traditions of portraiture – one of the oldest enduring art forms – by reconsidering the roles of all those involved. Ferreira begins his artistic process by filming a video piece in which he undresses in front of Tilley, with each recording capturing the collaborators reacting and responding to each other’s physical presence. Ferreira then paints from carefully chosen film stills, allowing him to analyse the process in motion rather than focusing on one particular viewpoint. By undressing in front of Tilley and remaining completely exposed throughout each filmed session, the source of the gaze, usually strictly maintained by the artist, is intentionally displaced to the model.

Posing for Sue explores the notion of shared experience between artist and sitter, tapping into the deep-rooted human desire to capture the complexities of expression via mimetic representation. Through the act of being observed in his most vulnerable state – both by the model and by the viewer – Ferreira utilises his body as an instrument to explore the heights and depths of the human psyche.

Follow @SueTilley1 and @RuiMiguelLeitaoFerreira

Visit @TheSundayPainter for info on the new exhibition and their website: https://thesundaypainter.co.uk/

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