Born in the Arctic, above Hudson Bay, on Baffin Island, my father with my mother, just married, headed north, he as the first doctor to the Eskimos, Pangnirtung, a good place to go for a few years. Yes, that's me over there. From narwhales, polar bears, days of the midnight sun and long days of dark winter, we followed the path of migration towards the sun of California, 'the golden state'. From the lush green of the middle portion of America to the "Golden Hills" a soon learned tactful euphemism for the scorched earth of summer and Downey, a community of palms, stucco, and ranch style homes. The older paintings 6'x6', that size being the dimensions between the washing machine and the work bench built into the garage wall, as well as the ceiling height, these works although more playful on first glance, have a stillness to them drawing from that early suburban experience. Heavily painted boundaries surround the figures. They are in an environment but don't really interact with it. Mundane subject matter, the people play out the great catch-22 of our lives, the comedic tragedy of it, we are here, we fill our time, then move on, perhaps we leave a footprint, a heart, a voice in someone's head, a memory that we existed, perhaps all we leave is stillness.
Just picked up one year and six months ago, had an epiphany, bolt upright from deep sleep, in the middle of the night. But then most of you reading this know that already. "This is the time". The next day changed everything. Sold my house that week, gave two week notice at work after twenty years, had thought of eventually moving to Italy or Ireland, the final journey, but New York sounded right at that moment. Put a finger to the Catskills on the map, and without ever having seen the place, bought a property on the internet, followed the dream and moved East.
The new work reflects this leap of faith, new work just coming out from crazy recesses in my mind. A blank canvas I scribble, continuing to change sides until images emerge. I capture them with brush, the subject matter defines itself but seems to know where it is headed before I become aware. Much of my work speaks to the human condition, darkness, love and hope, faith, religious mythology, where we put our values and the consequences of our actions.
Who has influenced my work? Max Beckmann continues to provide inspiration, his narrative works particularly, how he addressed the social turmoil during his lifetime. Alice Neel and Lucien Freud both provide richly painted portrayals not just of people, but more specifically the personalities, the life in them intrigues me.
Finally, a statement of my life experience without mentioning "those twenty years" the ILM years of carefully crafted paintwork giving realism to models that came alive on the movie screen, perhaps this may be as responsible as anything else as now a reaction to the tighter and more controlled work of that period, a long time to reflect, listen to kpfa and books on tape, incubate, wait for this time.
I hope this work makes your head spin, cartwheel across the floor. Use the contact page. That's what it's there for.
And please tell others!
Enjoy,
Susan Ross
