Guest feature by Henry Fry – to see Henry’s blog, visit: http://scrawleddownpaperedges.blogspot.com

I first came across Katie’s art at the 2010 Slade Summer Show, when I was drawn to it not only because it was primarily made of animal parts and strip lights arranged in almost totemic configurations, but also because of the smell, which was fairly, how shall I say – visceral?

Aim by Katie Surridge - Mixed Media (wood, strip lighting, basket ball hoops, drift wood, bones, MDF shields, straw matting, string, white gloss paint). Image courtesy of Saatchi Online

Katie encourages you to discover her sculptures – partly through their layout, often forcing you to walk around or between them, and partly through their utilisation of found or dismembered objects. She sources many of the pieces of junk metal and driftwood on the banks of the Thames, pairing them with antlers, horns or stuffed pheasants.

Together Again by Katie Surridge - Mixed media. (Reclaimed wood, railway sleeper, carved log, Thames river finds, strip lighting, wire, drift wood, old bathroom fittings, straw, eggs, string, fur, test tubes, chain). Image courtesy of Saatchi Online

In her own words: “I find pleasure in decorative embellished bricolage, which I carefully combine so that often repulsive soiled items, or items with a deathly aura take on a utopian or mystical feel.”

Katie’s exhibition, Skins, has just closed at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. She was also recently featured as one of four young artists in Channel 4’s New Sensations, an award for Saatchi Online 2010 UK Graduates. The subsequent Three Minute Wonder film made about her by Channel 4, is below:

Katie Louise Surridge from Gramafilm on Vimeo.

To find out more about Katie on this site, please visit: Surridge, Katie – Info

To see more of Katie’s work, please visit:

Katie Surridge’s Slade School of Art Profile

Katie Surridge’s Saatchi Gallery Profile