S I N G A P O R E
L O N D O N
Y O R K N E W
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I enjoy living dangerously within the process of painting, toying with disaster and celebrating unexpected results... - Susan
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FUSION AND FAMILIAR FORM: O B S E R VAT I O N S O N A B S T R A C T E D A R T W O R K BY SUSAN WASHINGTON
“The way the world is, is not necessarily the way it’s supposed to be. Start there.” –Berrisford Boothe According to what is written about Susan Washington’s artwork, it is “the fusion of painting, collage and fashion.” In my recall, ‘fusion’ describes the directed intermingling, interweaving, and ‘mashing-up’ of non-aligned disciplines, practices, or forms. Fusion speaks to the irreversible melding of elements, or styles that the artists is attracted to, creates, or chooses to represent. The result of fusion is a new alloy – a new artistic voice. Consider the fact that each visual artist is really having a life-long conversation with him/herself about
aesthetics or beauty or a conceptual premise and the viewer has the privilege of seeing that private, personal discussion presented as art. Art then, is fundamentally the public presentation of an internal language of form(s). The abstract artist in particular, is always fashioning a new language fused by use and misuse of line, shape, color, patterns, and textures. These elements are stand-ins for experiences, emotions, and whatever is observed from the artist’s own life, history, passion(s), and beliefs, etc. Susan Washington continues to generate an amazingly effective and inspiring catalog of abstract art. Rather than comfortably and predictably settling for ‘speaking’ in the language of her stunning
earlier and very popular abstract collaged paintings, Susan as artist elects to continually fold in the ‘physics’ –the push and pull, the anguished drama of surface relationships - of what is notyet-understood. She is so good, because she is so brave. By being relentlessly and at times joyously dissatisfied with each amazingly competent evolution of her work, Susan continues to create new visual fusions; art that speaks with such fresh aesthetic potency that I know she sometimes has to teach herself to listen and recognize her own voice. Once she convinces herself to believe in the unfamiliar, to be patient with what she doesn’t yet understand, Susan always brazenly fuses forward - even more. She refreshes her compositional lens and by doing so, creates new clusters of tensioned and co-dependent elemental beauty. She extrapolates more and more. Her faith in herself, in her own artistic voice to construct successful compositional harmony means that she -not any particular ‘ism’- is the connective tissue that allows aesthetic magic to happen. That is why I have an endless attraction to her work. That is why I believe her to be one of the best emerging 21st-century abstract painters. Painting after painting, she swings from mastery of invented compositions, to mastery of breathing color fields, to revisiting and unpacking the processes she successfully used as collage in her earlier works.
She digs in the ‘pigment dirt’ better than any other contemporary purely abstract artist I know. There is another way that Susan Washington’s art surpasses normal medium-in-service to form practices. Susan has mad improvisational skills with the media she uses. Anyone who has practiced improvisation as art, knows that successful improvisation (ironically) requires a structural layout, a conceptual setting, an intuitive understanding of where and when deviation
is necessary and where and when it must be reintroduced, rubbed, scraped or drawn back into an uncertain process that only reveals a final form as a function of time. From her earlier ‘structure and void,’ sewing patterns-based derivative work, to her poetic, gritty, “urban” and breathtaking current works, Susan always manipulates the surface to activate and define incredible sculptural and illusory space. All of her work, even the most pensive, is mesmerizing. Static elements shift. Negative spaces can suddenly lunge forward and as perception shifts, adjacent shapes are triggered to betray their own initial compositional positions. It is a fascinating surrender to fall into her paintings. Her work is so wonderfully tweaked and directed by unfiltered intelligence that Susan’s greatest gift to the viewer may be their immediate sense of increased perceptual intelligence and sensitivity. Susan makes us look – good. Nestled in her ever-rolling domain of discovery, Susan Washington is truly a committed and always practicing professional artist. She has built a mindset in practice where the constant is her courage to continually attempt wholly new expressions of spirit. This earned perspective has made Susan more comfortable and independent of the well-intentioned noise of fleeting admiration. The only truly meaningful fusion is the artist observant of him/herself. Susan Washington’s authentic art fuses painting, collage, along with a familial and personal interest in elements and history of fashion. It is also the ongoing evidence of a larger immutable arc of simply beautiful art from an accomplished artist who spends her life inventing and reinventing her own artist’s voice. -Berrisford Boothe
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Artist, Art Professor Curator, Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of Art
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SUSAN WASHINGTON BIOGRAPHY There is a strong narrative running through Susan Washington’s work that references her long involvement with collage, textiles, fashion and art. She comes from a family of artists and by age 5 Susan was tutored in the art of origami and sumi ink drawing by her Japanese godmother as well as watercolors from her father. She spent her teens deconstructing dressmaking as a punk fashionista. Washington then landed on 5th Avenue working at Dior and Nautica. Gravitating to the oeuvres of Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly and Joan Mitchell, Washington has continued to push boundaries, re-inventing her work with each new piece while continuing to maintain the cohesive thread that creates her signature look. “Washington’s pieces are the perfect balance of artistry and execution. Jean Paul Gaultier, Yohji Yamamoto, Valentino and Vivienne Westwood may inspire the narrative but it is Washington’s deft palette of textiles, paper and oil that tells the story.”
A R T I S T S TAT E M E N T “My work is inherently autobiographical. I make marks on the canvas that are a part of myself. It is important for me to be authentic, in the process of painting, to rediscover events that I have been a part of and to use them to inform my actions on canvas. I resonate with the adrenaline that I can generate and use this as the energy and emotion to fuel my work. I enjoy living dangerously within the process of painting, toying with disaster and celebrating unexpected results from spontaneous action and sometimes, unpredictable techniques. Then it’s a matter of editing and pursuing fruitful paths. This series of works represent my love of the fusion of painting and collage. I appropriate images from art magazines or images I have manipulated digitally, transferring the ink to the canvas, using them very loosely as compositional elements. The ever-changing results are eventually marked over with thick oil sticks and texture and movement starts to build and expand through the canvas.”
AUROBELLE O I L , I N K A N D PA P E R O N C A N VA S |
Thick oil paint is applied to the surface using creamy R&F oil sticks and woven between ink transfers from art and fashion magazines found around the studio. All work is sealed with a protective varnish, framed in a wood artist frame and ready to hang.
48 x 60
E V ERY ACT Oil and ink on canvas | 48 x 36
VALENTINO Oil, textile, paper on canvas | 48 x 36
ANGEL OF HARLEM Oil, paper and ink on canvas | 40 x 30
O DY S S E Y Oil, ink and paper on canvas | 60 x 48
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SUSAN WASHINGTON FINE ART
OUT OF T HE B OX Oil, ink on canvas | 60 x 48
M OD ERN SOUL Oil, ink and paper on canvas | 60 x 48
U N TI TLE D N O. 1 Oil and paper on canvas | 36 x 48
LIFE IS A PARTY 2 O I L , PA P E R A N D I N K O N C A N VA S | 3 6 x 3 6
I use images from old art magazines I have around the studio. I affix them to the canvas and after they dry I scrape off the paper to expose only the ink left behind. The process is exciting to me because you can never predict the results.
H ARBOR VIEW Oil, paper and ink on canvas | 40 x 30 x 2 in
UNTITLED 006 Oil, ink on canvas | 48 x 36
UNTITLED 005 Oil, ink on canvas | 48 x 36
PRÊT-À-PORTER SS19 Oil, textile, paper on canvas | 48 x 48
TO THE NINES Oil, paper and ink on canvas | 48 x 60
YO U CA N ’ T A LWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT Oil and paper on canvas | 36 x 36
COMMISSIONS In addition to selling my work from the studio, galleries, fairs and online, I enjoy working on new commissions directly for collectors and designers who are seeking a custom painting. I am happy to discuss your requirements to create a commissioned painting for a residential or commercial interior and to discuss the aesthetics, palette, and materials related to similar paintings on my website which can serve as the genesis for the commissioned piece. It is also very useful to have photographs of the wall where the painting will hang so that the impacts of natural and artificial lighting can be
considered when choosing a palette, medium and surface treatment. I find that it is helpful to provide a visual for clients and to this end I will generate a rough sketch or digital sketch of the proposed painting for approval together with a time-frame for completion of the painting, drying time, and shipping charges. As the painting progresses, I will email weekly photographs so that you and your clients can see the progression of the work. Once the painting is completed, I will send high-resolution photographs and a video for final approval and then I can move forward, arrange crating and shipping.
Please contact susan@susanwashingtonfineart.com for commission inquiries
Photo Credit: Artspace Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA
“It’s absolutely perfect and beautiful!!!!!”
JIMMY O. YANG HBO’S SILICON VALLEY
“I was instantly attracted to Susan and her work, her story and her connection to the fashion world. I like to let Susan go with her instincts. The results have always been amazing and my clients and I love all the pieces”
NORA SCHNEIDER INTERIOR DESIGNER, CHICAGO
“Susan is really warm and approachable and easy to talk to. She made “Dancing Queen” for us and we could not be happier. She put us at ease with mock ups describing the sense of direction she was going as this was the first time we ever commissioned. We are super grateful for Susan and really enjoyed the process and are very happy with the result. ” BRENDA KUNZWEILER COLLECTOR NEW JERSEY
www.susanwashingtonfineart.com www.saatchiart.com/susanwashington Susan@susanwashingtonfineart.com @susanwashingtonart 570-242-5404
Studio visits by appointment Please contact us directly for trade pricing
Catalog designed by Laura Sarria
