PHD Gallery hosts WET PAINT: Susan Sullivan

From PHD Gallery:


Please join us for the opening reception of
WET PAINT: Susan Sullivan
at PHD Gallery

Saturday, January 16, 2010
7:00 - 10:00PM



Kansas City Art Institute graduate Susan Sullivan is aptly described as a "painter's painter.” Her work is a celebration of the very medium itself. For her latest oil on board work, the artist abandons the paintbrush in favor of the palette knife. Sullivan creates a contrast between delicate figures and chunky palette knife strokes.

The open spaces of her landscapes depict the artist's experience of a particular place and time with purposeful, selective marks. Sullivan's painted language is graceful and spare. Artist Leslie Holt notes that “a delicate, idiosyncratic line carved into a layer of paint can describe a carefully observed contour of where the land meets the sky.”

(Read Holt's entire essay here.)

In another series inspired by old family photo albums she works with brush and palette knife, sometimes scratching through the paint down to the board. Figures and backgrounds shift selectively in and out of focus, achieving a haunting effect.

Sullivan's paintings engage the viewer with their combination of vigorous physicality and delicate touch. Her seemingly effortless gestures tap into universal themes of places, people and memory. In her latest figurative works, the artist has abandoned the traditional brush and canvas entirely in favor of the palette knife. Sullivan enjoys the contrast of her delicate figures with the rough wood boards and tough palette knife strokes.

Also on view, are the works of three painters: E. Gibbons, Mark Sheppard, and Mark Weber, and the vintage collage works of David Wallace. All four artists will be showcased in gallery three.

PHD Gallery
2300 Cherokee Street
St. Louis, MO 63118
(314) 664-6644