Sue Syme
{{Short description|Artist in New Zealand}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
Sue Syme (born 1962) is a New Zealand artist.{{Cite news |last=Dignan|first=James |date=17 October 2019|title=Art Seen: October 17|url=https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/arts/art-seen-october-17|access-date=15 June 2021|work=Otago Daily Times }}{{Cite web|title=Sue Syme. 1962–. New Zealand – Prices of Art at Auction|url=https://www.aasd.com.au/artist/19808-sue-syme/|access-date=15 June 2021|website=www.aasd.com.au}} Her work is held in the permanent collection of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.{{Cite web|title=Collections Online – Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa|url=https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/40034|access-date=15 June 2021|website=collections.tepapa.govt.nz}}
Biography
Syme was born in Westport, New Zealand and graduated from Otago Polytechnic in 1981, with a Diploma of Fine Arts majoring in printmaking.{{Cite web|title=Sue Syme|url=https://www.kuragallery.co.nz/category/artists/sue-symes|access-date=15 June 2021|website=Kura Gallery: Maori and New Zealand Art + Design.|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Syme, Sue|url=https://findnzartists.org.nz/artist/14526/sue-syme|access-date=15 June 2021|website=findnzartists.org.nz}} She also completed a Diploma of Teaching in 1991, and taught printmaking part-time at Te Tai Poutini Polytech in Greymouth, on the West Coast of the South Island.{{Cite web|title=Sue Syme|url=https://www.thegalleryhavelock.com/artists/suesyme|access-date=15 June 2021|website=The Gallery Havelock|language=en-US}}
Syme continued to live and paint in Ruru, near Moana and Lake Brunner on the West Coast, which, she says, makes people "regard you as some sort of lost hippie caught in a timewarp."{{Cite news|last=Watson White|first=Helen|date=21 April 1996|title=Syme casts off hippie rag with her works|page=12|work=Sunday Star-Times}} More recently she moved to Picton.{{Cite web|title=About|url=https://www.suesyme.com/|access-date=2021-06-19|website=SUE SYME|language=en-NZ}}
Art
In the 1990s Syme often painted cartoon caricatures, vibrant watercolour in drawn outlines.{{Cite news|last=Fusco|first=Cassandra|date=3 September 1997|title=Caricatures of sharp honesty|page=14|work=The Press}}{{Cite news|last=Watson|first=Helen|date=11 May 1997|title=Satire goes beyond the comfort zone|page=F12|work=Sunday Star-Times}} Her work was a satirical and exaggerated depiction of human relationships, noted for its "unique vitality and style". Critic Warren Feeney summarised her thus: "Decidedly fashionable with comic-book taste and style, the best of Sue Syme's work is pervaded by a great sense of dread and futility."{{Cite news|last=Feeney|first=Warren|date=21 June 1995|title=Restless complexities of life|work=The Press}} More recently she has worked on a larger scale in oil on canvas.
She has exhibited in New Zealand and internationally, including at the Moray Gallery in Dunedin, Dobson Bashford Gallery and The Vault in Christchurch,{{Cite news|date=24 May 1995|title=Syme at The Vault|work=The Press}} the Aigantighe in Timaru, and Artworks Gallery in Wānaka. In August 1993 she won a Telecom Art Award for a West Coast pub scene, her work featuring on the cover of 20,000 West Coast & Buller telephone directories.{{Cite news|date=13 August 1993|title=Coast Telecom Art Winner|work=Greymouth Evening Star}} Syme's painting Life on Stage (1993) featured in the suffrage centenary exhibition White Camellias at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery.{{Cite journal|last=Regnault|first=Claire|date=Summer 1993–94|title=The Canterbury Contribution: Celebrations for Suffrage Year|journal=Art New Zealand|volume=69|pages=62–64}}
References
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Category:20th-century New Zealand lithographers