Susan Richardson
I’ve spent most of my life seeking to reconcile the desire to find success and recognition in the outer world with the inner search for a deeper meaning. On that journey I’ve had great highs and lows. Joy and tears. I’ve spent much of my life making art that tells that story. I use layers of paint, text, and hand lettering to represent the way I experience the world. I add layers and peel them back to reveal buried ones. It’s bold and strong as well as delicate and ephemeral. Like life. Amidst all these layers of old and new, inner and outer, we can create a gorgeous harmony. Each of my pieces expresses this interplay of inner and outer. Like a wall that has witnessed wars, parades, graffiti and layers of posters that become tattered and papered over, it all combines to tell that story. I hope that when you see my work, you feel the beauty, the magic and the mystery.
At the end of 2017 I began a body of work called For Gatsby. It's inspired by the work of my favorite author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. I grew up in the town that is said to have inspired the mythical home of Jay Gatsby. I remember just after I read The Great Gatsby, exploring with my brother and, like an apparition, coming upon a mansion on the waterfront of Long Island Sound that was believed to have been the inspiration for the place where Gatsby lived and gave his gorgeous, decadently delicious parties. In addition to the connection of place, I deeply connect to Fitzgerald's searches — for glamour, wealth, parties with notable people, fame, success, appreciation, recognition, all the wonderful shiny things that seem so appealing and yet don't fill the yearning for what we cannot name. And so, my work seeks to capture the wild, extravagant grandeur and the search for something deeper.
For more information about the artist, please visit her website.
