Susan Gamble and Michael Wenyon are a duo trained in the contrasting disciplines of art (Gamble) and optics (Wenyon), which influences their choice of media as well as subjects. Since 1986 they have worked as artists alongside scientists in a variety of science laboratories; the resulting artwork has often come out of an artistic process that parallels their research. The artists live and work between the UK and the USA.
Susan Gamble
(b.) London, England
Art Foundation, Winchester School of Art, 1975
BA Fine Art, Goldsmiths' College, University of London, 1976–79
MPhil History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University , 1998
PhD History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University , 2005
Leverhulme Research Fellowship, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh 1994
Fellow, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, MIT, Cambridge, Mass., 1995–96
Michael Wenyon
(b.) Dayton Ohio, USA
BSc, Bristol University, England, 1974–77
MSc, Imperial College , University of London , 1978
Winston Churchill Foundation Traveling Fellowship, 1982
Leverhulme Research Fellowship, Royal Observatory, Edinburgh 1994
Solo Exhibitions
2012 A Universe held up for Inspection, Magnan Metz Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Public Installation, Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, UK
2007 Great Halls of Science, Magnan Projects, New York, NY
National Academies of Science, Washington
2003 Mapping the Great Hall, New York Hall of Science
Great Halls of Science, Magnan Projects, New York, NY
2002 Ghost, Norwich Castle Museum
2001 The Prime Meridian of the World, Royal Observatory, Greenwich
2000 Observing The Observers…, Compton Gallery, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts
1998 Bibliomancy, The Boston Athenaeum, Boston
Group Exhibitions
2014 Magnan Metz Group Exhibition: Destination Unknown, Magnan Metz Gallery, New York, NY
2012 Social Photography II, Carriage Trade, New York
2011 Americans Now, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington DC
Social Photography, Carriage Trade, New York
2010 Inaugural Group Exhibition, Magnan Metz, New York,NY
Americans Now, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington
2009 A History in Art and Architecture, National Academy of Sciences, Washington
2008 Pulse New York Contemporary Art Fair, Magnan Projects, New York, NY
2007 Recent Acquisitions of the Victoria & Albert Museum Photography Collection, Sainsbury Center for the Visual Arts, Norwich, Norfolk, England
2006 Art in the Age of Orbitization, Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany (online exhibition http://www.orbit.zkm.de/)
2005 The Artful Jackson Heights, Krasdale Gallery, White Plains, New York
2003 The Map is Not the Territory, James Hockey Gallery, Farnham, England
Light from Shadow, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Paddington, Australia
2002 Queens International, Queens Museum of Art, New York
2001 Space Odyssey, Art Tower Mito, Japan
The World According to the Newest and Most Exact Observations: Mapping Art and Science, Tang Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
2000 Multiple Sensations, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
Particle Accelerators, Boston Photographic Resource Center, Boston
Awards, Prizes, Grants and Commissions
2008 New York Foundation for the Arts, Fiscal Sponsorship Award
Research commission for installation in Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, UK; funded by the Arts Council of England
2007 New York Foundation for the Arts, Fiscal Sponsorship Award
2006 Queens Council on the Arts, New York
2005 The Auditorium, commission for the National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC
2003 Automated Observations, digital photograph, 1 x 6.5 metres, permanent commission for new building of UK Meteorological Office, Exeter, Devon
2002 Arts Council of England, Southern & South East Arts
Queens Council on the Arts, New York
The Quiet Sun, glass mosaic mural based on digital image of the sun taken by the SOHO satellite, 1.2
metres (high) x 21 metres (width), White Horse Tennis and Leisure Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
2001 Arts Council of England, Year of the Artist Award
British Council fine art travel grant (exhibition in Japan)
2000 Massachusetts Cultural Council
1999 MIT Council for the Arts
1998 LEF Foundation
1993 UNESCO prize for aesthetic development of technological art
1992 British Council fine art travel grant (exhibition in Japan)
1988 Arts Council Great Britain
1987 Shearwater Foundation
1984 British Council fine art travel grant (exhibition in Germany)
Commissions
2008-9 Research commission for installation in Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, UK; funded by the Arts Council of England
2005 The Auditorium, commission for the National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC
2003 Automated Observations, digital photograph, 1 x 6.5 metres, permanent commission for new building of UK Meteorological Office, Exeter, Devon
2002 The Quiet Sun, glass mosaic mural based on digital image of the sun taken by the SOHO satellite, 1.2 metres (high) x 21 metres (width), White Horse Tennis and Leisure Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, England
Work in Collections
National Academy of Science, Washington DC
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC
Victoria & Albert Museum (1986, 2004)
List Visual Arts Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Boston Athenæum
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts
National Maritime Museum, London
Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Abingdon, England
New York Hall of Science
Meteorological Office, Exeter, England
Queens Council on the Arts
Catalog Essays and Books
2009 Schröter, Jens. Die künstlerische Holographie: Der Illusionismus, das Licht und die Achronie. In 3D - Zur Geschichte, Theorie und Medienästhetik des technisch-transplanen Bildes, 285-309. München: Wilhelm Fink, 2009.
Bryson, Norman. Auch Bücher haben ihr Schicksal, Wenyon & Gambles Bibliomancy. In Das holographische Wissen, 153-160. Zürich-Berlin: Diaphanes, 2009.
2004 MacWilliam, Shirley, essay in Art at the Met Office, Met Office, Exeter.
2003 Gage, John, essay in Light from Shadow, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Paddington, Australia.
England, Jane, essay in The Map is Not the Territory, England and Co., London.
2001 Osaka, Eriko, In Pursuit of a New Horizon: A Journey of Contemporary Art and the Universe, essay in Space Odyssey, Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower Mito, Mito, Japan.
2000 Bricker Balken, Debra, Wenyon & Gamble's Space Waves, in "Observing the Observers…", Wenyon & Gamble, MIT Museum, Cambridge Mass (catalog of individual show).
Kemp, Martin, editor, The History of Western Art, Oxford University Press.
Bibliography
2009 Gage, John. Signs of Disharmony: Newton’s Opticks and the Artists. Perspectives on Science 16, no. 4 (December 1, 2008): 360-377
2000 Baker, Kenneth, Manifold 'Sensations' From Earth to Moon, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug 5, p B1
McQuaid, Cate, Digital Art Takes Wing, The Boston Globe 'Calendar', April 27, p13
Silver, Joanne, Telescopes, the final frontier, The Boston Herald, March 31, pS8
Giuliano, Charles, A lesson in techie art, Boston Citysearch (online magazine), March
Heinemann, Lynn, Haystack Artists-in-Residence Show their Work, MIT Tech Talk, Feb 16
Silver, Joanne, Artists celebrate weird science, Boston Herald, Friday, Jan 14, p S10