suzan shutan: A conversation

Exhibition Dates: November 29 - December 22, 2022

Reception: Thursday, December 1, 5pM - 8pm

The Painting Center is pleased to present A Conversation, a solo exhibition by artist Suzan Shutan and curated by Shazzi Thomas and Chase Cantwell. The exhibition will be on view from November 29 through December 22, 2022 in the Project Room at The Painting Center.

The exhibition A Conversation explores communication through the exchange of images rather than words. It engages the idea that a visual and personal narrative takes place between and within the artworks themselves. Like pieces of a puzzle the artworks when joined, read together to tell a story- yet each single piece of the puzzle stands on its own while embodying a part of the whole. On the surface there is color filled, weighted texture which bursts and bubbles at every opportunity, a humorous twist, a personal patterning, a decorative deception. The shapes however reference Shutan’s own body’s process of aging, sexuality, and the body’s wheel of fortune fate. Shutan stands as a witness in the presence of her body’s evolution as it continues to move her forward.  Breast shapes flattened and elongated, colorful phallic forms, pubic particles like confetti tease, relate, poke fun, trying hard to be beautiful.  The story speaks to desire and loss, and within each work a celebration with the shadow of sadness not far behind.

Suzan Shutan was born in New Haven Connecticut and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting/Drawing from California Institute of the Arts, CA and a Master of Fine Arts in Installation from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, NJ. She has lived and worked in Germany, France, Iowa, California, Connecticut and New York City. Shutan has attended artist residencies at Yaddo and Bemis Foundation, has been awarded grants that include CEC Artslink, Art Matters, Berkshire Taconic Foundation’s A.R.T, and three Fellowships in Sculpture from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally including Bank of America Headquarters North Carolina, Kaneko Org. Omaha, Nebraska, The Aldrich Museum, Connecticut, Islip Art Museum, NY, Housatonic Museum, CT, Art & Culture Center, FLA and internationally in Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Ukraine, Poland, Argentina, Russia, Canada and Columbia. She has been reviewed by the NY Times, Sculpture Magazine. Smithsonian Magazine, High Performance Magazine among others and has work in private and public collections such as the Villa Taverna Foundation and UCLA. Her permanent commissions include Log Me In Headquarters, Boston, MA and Sloan Kettering Hospital, NY.

For more information in the artist: www.suzanshutan.com.