SUSAN SILLS
LIFE-SIZE WOOD CUTOUTS FROM THE OLD MASTERS
My life-size, free-standing cutouts are an attempt at a whimsical restructuring of art history. By releasing familiar images from the confinement of the frame and thrusting them into real space the paintings confront the contemporary viewer in new and surprising ways that invariably provoke not only smiles but also fresh insights. Renoir’s dancing couple, Velasquez’ princess, Gauguin’s Tahitian maiden all somehow change when they enter our rooms.
With a jigsaw I carefully cut fine birch plywood to shape, and then recreate in oil paints the original artist’s technique, be it the heavy impasto of Van Gogh or the subtle glazes of Ingres. Rendered life size regardless of the size of the original, they are able to relate not only to us but also to each other.
Bringing these characters into the 21st century is another issue. If we are to relate to them on a personal level they must somehow be in our world. With props and unexpected combinations, each character can take on an entirely new meaning. Using wit and sometimes humor, a new story is born. Sometimes the commentary is art-referential, a twist on another art form or another esthetic: art about art. Some of the works are simply the figures as illusion. “Is that really someone over there?”
BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
Brooklyn Museum School of Art
Boston Museum School of Art
New York University
Queens College
Art Students League
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016 Family Portraits, Viridian Artists Inc., NYC
2012 Cutting Loose, Viridian Artists Inc, NYC
Faces in the Crowd, Acumen Space, Long Island City, NY
2010 Illusion/Allusion, Queens College Art Center, NY
2009 The Cutting Edge, Flecker Gallery, Selden, NY
2008 The Cutting Edge, Viridian Artists Inc. NYC
2006 The Cutting Edge, Schacknow Museum of Art, Plantation, FL
2005 The Cutting Edge, Viridian Artists Inc. NYC
2004 The Cutting Edge, Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola, FL
2002 Life-Size Cutouts: Ladies at Leisure, Viridian, NYC
1999 Kaleidoscope, Manhattanville College. Purchase, NY
1998 Kaleidoscope, Viridian, NYC
1994 And So The Party Continues, Viridian, NYC
1991 The Cutting Edge, Viridian, NYC
1989 Portraits on Wood & Canvas, Viridian, NYC
1987 XIV Heads, Viridian, NYC
XIV Heads,The Brooklyn YWCA, Brooklyn, NYC
1984 Paintings on Plywood, Viridian, NYC
Paintings on Plywood, Bromfield Gallery, Boston, MA
1983 Figures on Wood, Lee Gallery, NYC
1981 Portraits in Wood, Viridian, NYC
1977 New Work, Brownstone Gallery, Brooklyn, NYC
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 “Groundbreaking: The Women of the Sylvia Sleigh Collection”, Rowan Univ. Art Gallery, Glassboro, NJ
2010 Onward Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2009 Schacknow Museum of Art
2007 Visual Voices, Gallery So, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Beaux and Eros, Peninsula Museum of Art, Belmont, CA
Big City Concerns, Fountain Gallery, Cape Girardeau, MO
2004 Hito, Toki, Tokoro, Onward Gallery, Tokyo, JAPAN
2003 Viridian Artists from NYC, FABG Gallery, Chicago, IL
2002 Inner Muse, Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY
2001 Hito, Toki, Tokoro, Onward Gallery, Tokyo, JAPAN
Inner Muse, Pirate Gallery, Denver, CO
2000 Five Women Artists of the New Century, curated by Susan Sills, Manhattanville College, Purchase, NY
A.R.T. The Garfield Temple, Brooklyn, NYC
1999 Cornucopia, SO Gallery, Tokyo, JAPAN
Parallel Visions: The Sylvia Sleigh Collection of Women Artists, Soho20, NYC
Greening the Planet, Wall Gallery, John Jay College, NYC
BWAC Fall Show, Williamsburg Art and Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY
1998 Freak of Nature, Gallery 128, NYC
1997 Invitational, Nexus Foundation for Today Art, Philadelphia, PA
Up From Manhattan, College of Mount St. Vincent, Riverdale, NY
1996 Diverse Influences, Chinese Cultural Institution Gallery, Boston, MA
1997 Just Us, The Wall Gallery, John Jay College, NYC
1994 Hito, Toki, Tokoro, Onward Gallery, Tokyo, JAPAN
Invitational, Nexus Foundation for Today’s Art, Philadelphia, PA
1992 Columbus Quincentennial, Liberty State Park, Jersey City, NJ
Viridian Gallery Selections, Lever House, NYC
1991 Invitational, Wall Gallery, John Jay College, NYC
Oi, Tazuko and Viridian Gallery Artists, Kyoni Gallery, Tokyo, JAPAN
Oi ,Tazuko and Viridian Gallery Artists, Gallery Suzuki, Tokyo, JAPAN
1989 Invitational, Wall Gallery, John Jay College, NYC
1988 The Artistic Mile, Brooklyn, NY
Invitational, Concordia College, Bronxville, NY
1987 French-American Exchange Show, Auvers-sur-Oise, FRANCE
Ars Bruklyniensis, Weisner Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Artists on the Move, Chuck Levitan Gallery, NYC
1986 Park Slope Artists, Federal Plaza Gallery, NYC
Small, Small, Small Works, Wall Gallery, John Jay College, NYC
Park Slope Artists, Brooklyn Museum Community Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1985 Artists in the Picnic House, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY
Art in the Bush, Park Slope Artists, Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, NY
Beginnings and Endings, Concordia College, Bronxville, NY
NY Society of Women Artists 61st Annual Exhibition, Warner Communications Gallery, NYC
1984 Art in the Bush, Park Slope Artists, Bush Terminal, Brooklyn, NY
A Tale of Two Cities, Bromfield Gallery, Boston, MA
1983 NYSWA 59th Annual Exhibition, Bankers Trust Gallery, NYC
1982 New Paintings and Graphics for the 80s, Warner Communications Gallery, NYC
1981 Love is What Its All About, American Standard Gallery,NYC
1981 Set piece for a dance performance by Sally Blane, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC
1979-Present Semi-annual group shows at Viridian Artists Inc.
PUBLICATIONS
Hottle, Andrew, “Groundbreaking: The Women of the Sylvia Sleigh Collection”,2011
Dantzic, Cynthia Maris, 100 New York Painters, Schiffer Publishing, 2006
McCormack, Ed, Susan Sills: Postmodern Mixmaster of the Art Historical Cutout, Gallery & Studio, March 2008
Paper City Magazine, Houston, Texas, Photo Essay, June 2006
McCormack, Ed, Susan Sills and Her Band of Art Historical All-Stars, Gallery & Studio, April 2005
McCormack, Ed, Susan Sills Witty Cutout Installations Humanize Art History, Gallery & Studio, April 2002
Lombardi, D. Dominick, Abstract Ink Drawings and Photocopies, The New York Times, July 1999
Becker, Marilyn, Susan Sills Twists on Time and Place, Manhattan Arts, April 1991
McCormack, Ed, Susan Sills and “Friends From Art History, Artspeak, April 1991
The Artists Magazine, Photo, September 1991
Ruben, Edward, Susan Sills: Explorer of the Human Psyche, Manhattan Arts,
Santiago, Jorge, Susan Sills: Portrait of People and an Era, Artspeak, April 1989
Janney, Peter, Susan Sills at Viridian, Manhattan Arts, March 1987
Connelly, Mark H., Park Slope Artists at the Brooklyn Museum, The Phoenix, July 1985
Ilein, Abraham, Portraits with Immediacy, Artspeak, April 1984
Knode, Marilu, Susan Sills at Viridian, Manhattan Arts, May 1984
Nager, Joy, Artist Susan Sills Does Life Size Cutouts, Prospect Press, May 1984
Shanks, John Arthur, Susan Sills Portrait Cutouts, Women Artists News, Summer 1984
Natsios, Valerie, Gallery Reviews, New York Arts Journal, May 1981
The Ideal Society, Artspeak, May 1981
CATALOGS
2010 Onward Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Gallery So, Tokyo, Japan
2006 Beaux and Eros, Peninsula Museum of Art
2004 Onward Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2000 Onward Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1999 Gallery So, Tokyo, Japan
1999 The Sylvia Sleigh Collection of Women Artists
1995 Onward Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1993 Viridian Gallery, NYC
1992 Japan International Contemporary Art Annual
1991 Kyoni Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1986 Artists on the Move, French-American Exchange
CORPORATE AND MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Rowan University Art Gallery, Glassboro, NJ
Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts, Plantation, FL
Standard Motor Products, Long Island City, NY
Seedco Corp., NYC
Yamaguchi Electric, Tokyo, JAPAN
Marusan Co., Tokyo, JAPAN
Kyosan Denki, Osaka, JAPAN
Diamond Electric Corp., Osaka, JAPAN
Parts Warehouse, Bay City, MI
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Viridian Artists Inc., President
Artists Equity
LINKS: http://thedorseypost.com/?p=602 – Sept 30, 2011“Moving” The Dorsey Post
http://thedorseypost.com/?p=2940 – May 7, 2013 “Cutting Loose With Susan Sills” The Dorsey Post