Susan Cunningham
I feel color and light. When I was in grade school, we were asked to keep a journal for English class and turn it in for credit. At the top of page one, I wrote all the numbers in their corresponding colors. My teacher asked me what it meant and I was shocked, believing everyone knew the color that went with each number and letter and word and feeling…. I believe my synesthesia has a very real impact on my experience of creating art.
I hope viewers will fall into my paintings, first seeing them for one thing, and upon closer inspection or longer viewing, seeing them for something else. I want them to experience some of the journey I go on when I paint; how the piece will start as one thing or one idea and take itself somewhere else, while I simply accommodate its desires.
I am influenced by painters in the Bay Area Figurative movement, their palettes, and the way they approach line and form; painters like Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, and Wayne Thibault, among others.
Wood and mixed media are my chosen elements; working on wood adds an organic ingredient to my art, and using mixed media allows a freedom and ease that reflects my intuitive “don’t overthink it” philosophy of creation.
