Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Washington.
Hi Susan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I have always been a painter, a creator, an artist. My dad, my godmother, and other family members were painters as well. I was really little when we first lived in Brooklyn and my dad (who was Italian) and my godmother (who was Japanese) would sit in our tatami room on the floor and show me how to paint. They would take me to galleries and museums all the time. We moved to Miami Beach where I continued absorbing art and learning how to create.
These serene learning times eventually went off the rails as I got a bit older – my mom unexpectedly left Miami and moved with my sister and I back to NY. Life was then crazy coping with alcoholic parents, a stepfather who tried to kill me, and no more art. When I got a little older and was able to travel myself, my sanity from this was taking the train into NYC, which was during the late 70’s early 80’s where I fell in with artists and a scene that I felt I belonged in. As time went on it was during long train rides back into Brooklyn after a night at the Mudd Club, I would get lost in the graffiti and rust and stickers strewn over the walls of the subway car – I would create stories in stories with these random marks and they would give me zen-like moments where I could drift away from the anxiety of going back home and never knowing what was going to happen there.
When I started getting into the club scene, I began making club clothes for my friends and I and soon after went to work in the NY fashion industry. After spending 20 years there, I left the city to raise my kids.
I quietly painted through all this time but never shared. It wasn’t until my son was arrested and I lost the ability to have any control of that situation that was out of my hands – I turned to his room, tore things apart, and after grabbing my paints, locked myself in there for days. I painted on a big piece of wood, violently, passionately, sobbing at times but at this point, the paint was the only thing I could control. Images of those train cars were my focus and zen.
It so happens that a friend who was a gallerist had seen this painting and asked me to exhibit it in her gallery. I did, and when it sold right after it was hung – she took a couple of more from me, which also sold. I decided at that point to do what I love most, that was in my blood and created.
I went to art college for two years and dropped out because I started to sell all my work and needed time to create. I also had spent a life in arts, hanging out with some of the best artists in the 80s, going to museums and galleries all over the world all the time that I knew the direction I wanted to go. My work is process-driven, inspired by music and those city walls and subway cars. As I explore my current series of works, I have found a balance to keep passion in it while exploring and growing my artistic vocabulary.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not a smooth road at all. But, anything worth having is a struggle. It’s the rocky road that you learn from.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m an abstract painter and I just recently relocated to Baltimore. I do work with galleries in NYC, the Hamptons and Los Angeles but I prefer selling my own work. Since I spent so many years in business, I enjoy and value building connections and relationships, both online and in person with collectors, advisors, designers and curators.
I have a large studio and gallery in an old building and now that I have this space, I have begun creating larger paintings, 6′ and larger. This has been fantastic for me because it’s helped me push my Subway Sonnet series further and when you are working sitting under such a big painting, it’s almost like it’s a piece of time, a wall that I passed in NYC on the way to the club or something. I work towards making the painting look as if it’s a collaboration of marks from many artists, graffiti, people posting notices on a billboard, etc. Those random marks tell a story. It’s up to the viewer to find their story within.
What sets me apart is the turbulent life experiences that I have had that inform my work. Yet, at the same time, I find that it’s those same experiences we share as humans that interest me. They may have been from a different perspective or time, but they are there.
Contact Info:
- Email: susan@susanwashingtonfineart.
com - Website: www.susanwashingtonfineart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanwashingtonart/
- Other: www.nitrogallery.com
