STATEMENT

My work, while appearing abstract, is about ideas that use their intended form as a springboard to create believable though not necessarily real forms. I try to evoke the essence of an object, remaking the known into something uncommon and transformative. The architecture of a space becomes an integral part of each piece. Working between 2 and 3 dimensions, my sculptural drawings investigate line, perception and optics. I love the illusional play on shape and space and the transformative idea of a circle used as an escape hole in Bugs Bunny cartoons. Line is the obvious “hole” to work with because it can be rendered flat, given shape, depth or literally extended into space.Semiotics is often used in my work as sign, symbol or communicative behavior. Sometimes it represents universal laws on the natural world, and may show systems of life processes as subjective universes. I think about the ability of an image to sustain itself throughout time, to excite-provoke and feel new. SInce 2005 I have added video to my installations instead of making them seperately. What I find so appealing about this medium is that it is concept driven, time based, sensory and completes my static work. Its ability to be fluid yet manipulated is similar to my working process. I can alter the intuitive way information is recalled or processed, and can ass sequence to change an association or visual perception, just as I change the outcome of a form.

BIO

Suzan is a recipient of various awards and grants including a regional Artist Resource Trust grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, Great Barrington, MA, an international CEC Artslink grant, NYC, NY, an artist fellowship from Art Matters, NYC, NY and Individual Artist Fellowships from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. She has been awarded Artist Residencies that include Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY and The Bemis Foundation, Omaha, NE.

Internationally she has exhibited at Proyecto Ace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, The Palace Ujazdowski Contemporary Art Center, Warsaw, Poland, Rogue Art Gallery, Victoria, Canada, Berlin Kunstferin and the University of Freiburg, Germany, Centro Colombo Americano Gallery in Bogota and Medellin, Columbia, The Swedish Archives in Bjaared, Sweden ArtPolitika, Russia and her national exhibits include The Alternative Museum, WAX, Abrons Art Center/ Henry Street Settlement, Souyun Yi Gallery all in NY, Yale University School of Art Gallery, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Real Art Ways in CT and the Laguna Beach Art Museum in California.

Her work is in collections such as the Villa Taverna Foundation, The Bemis Foundation, Rhode Island College and Sacred Heart University and she has been a guest lecturer and visiting artist at universities and conferences both nationally and internationally. Shutan is an Artist Mentor for MFA Candidates at Transart Institute, Danube University in Krems, Austria and currently teaches Sculpture at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Connecticut.