Marx Susan

Alabama, United States (US)

Artist’s Statement

Abstract Impressionist – A Painter Who Loves Color

My paintings are conversations between my eyes, my head, my heart, my gut, and the canvas in front of me. This is true whether I am painting abstract work from the inside of my head or out of doors. I paint as result of my radical amazement at the beauty of visual world and my need to turn that experience into paint. Nature is my frame of reference. I paint what nature leaves with me. I am concerned with light and what light does to color, which is why I call myself an Abstract Impressionist. I like to entice and engage my viewers, drawing them into a fresh and beautiful world. I hope my artwork will lead to people noticing the beauty in nature; a healing beauty.

My work is intuitive. I let the process guide me and inform me what the work is about. It is an emotional conversation of paint-filled brushstrokes and the painting that is being composed on the canvas. I load up my palette, pick up a brush, holding it as a conductor would hold his baton and begin. I don’t speak to the canvas, instead the canvas speaks to me. It is a constant back and forth conversation of paint and canvas, painted quickly using emotional sensations rather than an intellectually thought out process. I paint but lose the concept of time. I am painting from a deeper place, within. Fast, faster, passionately painting, furiously painting. I cannot get the colors down fast enough, often painting wet on wet. I am painting from a deeper place. Then suddenly I need air. I stop and step back to look at my canvas one last time. The painting is done.

I paint in acrylics which allows me to record my color impressions quickly. I paint with thick bold, rich color and gestural brushstrokes. Leaving blank canvas is intentional. I feel it makes the color more vibrant and blank canvas create a tension between positive and negative space. It lets the painting breathe. Often the act of painting forms a blank shape on the canvas within the picture plane: something I find visually exciting. I enjoy the process of putting color next to color and that process is the subject matter of the painting. I title my paintings after I am finished painting. I feel they are lyrical.

I try to capture the essence in my painting, the color and the emotion, and leave the rest to the viewer’s imagination, to bring him into the painting.

Someone once said I work to the muse of Monet, Van Gogh, and Joan Mitchell; I was thrilled. They guided me in the journey to become the artist I am today.

EDUCATION

Boston University, College of Fine Arts, BFA in Painting (Studied with Walter Murch, David Aronson, Karl Fortess, Robert Qwathmey

Painting seminars in Giverny, France – in Monet’s garden and in Normandy

Painting seminar in Arles and St. Remy de Provence, France tracing steps of Van Gogh

COLLECTIONS

Private Collections in the US and abroad.

Exhibitions

Solo Show:

Johnson and Johnson Headquarters, NJ (Fall 2016)

Two Person Shows:

Gaelen Gallery East, West Orange, NJ

Ashok Jain Gallery, New York, NY