Su Su

Artist Statement

Over the past year, Susu's idiomatic scene paintings - evocative of in an urban surrealistic setting - pivoted in preference for exploratory. This artistic shift was borne of her newfound quarantine isolation and her evolving experience as a Chinese immigrant in America amid the backdrop of mounting xenophobic hatred against Asians/Asian Americans. In her recent artistic voyage, in search of a sense of belonging and reconciliation between the Chinese indigenous culture in which her race, ethnicity, and body dwelt and the Western perceptions, she grapples with the iconic motifs of the Chinese dragon, the totem animal of her Manchu family clan.

Biography

Born in Beijing, China, SuSu lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA. She received an artist scholarship to attend graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University, where she completed her MFA in 2015 and is currently working as a guest professor at the School of Drama.

Susu has shown both nationally and internationally, and in the past four years, Susu has been honored to receive three nominations including the Eben Demarest Trust Award, 2018; the Joan Mitchell Foundation award, 2019; and the Bennett Prize 2.0, 2020. Her paintings were featured in publications such as JUXTAPOZ Magazine, GALERIE Magazine, American Art Collector, ARTPULSE Magazine, and FINE ART Connoisseur.

Susu has notably exhibited at Pittsburgh Center for the Art (2018), Chautauqua Institution of Art, NY (2019), The Andy Warhol Museum 25th anniversary exhibition (2019), The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (2020), The Momentary Museum (2020), The Carnegie Museum of Art (2020). The Muskegon Museum of Art (2021).

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Empty Vessel III, 2021

Oil on Canvas, 36" x 36"

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Pears, Moth and Brushes, 2022

Oil on Silk, 48" x 36"