SUZAN WOODRUFF

Suzan Woodruff, a fourth generation native of the American west was born in Phoenix, Arizona where, from an early age, she was imbued with her love and awe of nature. She was tremendously influenced by the spirituality of her grandmother, who raised with philosophy of Self Realization, and the distinctly Bohemian lifestyle of her mother. Woodruff received a scholarship in art, and attended Arizona State University (ASU). She left Phoenix and lived in Los Angeles and New York before settling again in Los Angeles with her husband, the novelist Bruce Bauman.

Woodruff’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. She most recently featured in a two-person exhibit of Flow Painting at the Art Factory in Budapest, Hungary. She is a recipient of an NEA grant and numerous artist residencies including the Sanskriti Center for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and 18th Street Arts Center. Her work has been collected in scores of museum, corporate and private collections such as the House of Saud, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, Todd Wagner, Ibrahim Alkazi (The Sepia Collection), Martin and Norma Stevens, Michael Korie; The Scottsdale Center for the Arts, City of Mesa Cultural Center, The Sanskriti Foundation, AT&T, Sperry Rand, SONY, Warner Bothers and many more. Woodruff has been reviewed in Art Ltd. Magazine (cover article), Budapest Sun (cover), Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Artweek and Money magazine (article).

Artist Statement

Since I was a child in Arizona I have lived in awe of the beauty and power of nature and science. As an artist I have incorporated it into my art. Over many years I have developed a unique method of expressing my artistic voice, which I consider to combine the subtly political and feminine, while overtly embracing beauty. As has been said about my art by critics and viewers, there is an “earthly sensuality,” which I purposely pursue as a woman painter who is influenced by pioneering feminists like Louise Bourgeois and Ana Mendietta among many others.

I consider my current work to have political and social implications, but science and mathematics are now implicit and essential to my creative process. My work portrays and embraces the delicate byplay of the conscious and unconscious, natural phenomena and controlled imagery. When I first embraced quantum physics in my work, my creative tools were acrylic paint, tracing pigment, light, space, evaporation and most importantly, gravity on wood panels. I designed a special table to best manifest my vision, which has been called Flow painting. Of late I have been studying fractals- this new work culminates in encapsulating natural fractals, in what I call “mindful meditation.”

I am continuing with the method that I call ‘natural fractal painting,’ where I simultaneously give expression to both the world I inhabit and the world I experience- the universe of tangible form and the overlapping but distinct metaverse of pure energy. In Nature, I discovered a viable armature on which to overlay both levels of existence. My use of horizon lines, mirror imaging, proportion and perspective are modes within the landscape idiom. But, as the critic Shana Nys Dambort wrote of my work, “However, the sensual movements and conjoining of unlikely azure gestures, dusky magenta highlights and calligraphic impastos of emerald that punctuate her sweeping color fields keep the compositions tethered to pure abstraction.”

A primary conduit of both light and memory in my work is color. I believe that colors are not only physical expressions of light and space, but have psychological dimensions as well; they trigger unconscious associations ranging from the sexual to the sublime. I purposefully leave space for each individual viewer’s narrative projection to complete the work’s meaning for themselves.

In conclusion, as a new Flow painter I focus on the importance of nature by painting, inspired by new images brought about by sciences, which I interpret by recreating natural phenomena in my artistic palette and the environment at large. The importance and unabashed beauty of nature, science, and the human psyche is the focus of the new paintings. I believe in the sincerity and truth that is art.

Exhibitions

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2009 William Turner Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA

2009 ABBA Fine Art, Miami, FL

2008 The Art Factory, Budapest, Hungary (Two-person show)

2008 Diana Ferrone Gallery, Laguna, CA

2007 William Turner Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA

2006 Berman/Turner Projects, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA

2005 George Billis Gallery, Los Angles, CA

2005 William Turner Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA

2003 George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2003 William Turner Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA

2003 Scope Fair LA, George Billis Gallery

2003 Hill Gallery, Toronto, Canada

2001 George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2001 William Turner Gallery, Burning Woman Paintings, Venice, CA

2000 Highways Gallery, Burning Woman Performance, Santa Monica, CA

2000 Art Konsult, Meditation & Mandala Paintings, New Delhi, India

2000 Palos Verdes Art Center, Burning Woman Performance, PV, CA

1999 Highways Gallery, Burning Woman, Santa Monica, CA

1998 University of Arizona, Tarantella: Painted Word, Tucson, AZ

1995 European Museum, Nassau, Bahamas

1986 John Cline Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

1985 Duke University, Durham, NC

Selected Group Shows

2008 ABBA Fine Art, Scope Miami

2008 Liquid Light, Museum of DAA, Culver City, CA

2008 Finish Fetish, MMFA Gallery, Plam Springs, CA

2008 Ten, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA                                                                                     2007 Velocity, Claremont Museum of Art, Claremont, CA

2007 Liquid Light, DB256, Pomona, CA

2007 Red Dot NY, Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA

2007 Red DOT, NY George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2007 Santa Monica Museum, Incognito, Santa Monica, CA                                                                               2007 LA Art Fair, George Billis Gallery

2007 Art 212, George Billis New York, NY

2007 George Billis Gallery, Los Angles, CA

2007 Fresh stArt, Los Angles, CA

2006 George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2007-6 Santa Monica Museum, Incognito, Santa Monica, CA

2005 Riverside Museum, Flow Painting, Riverside, CA

2005 Santa Monica Museum, Incognito, Santa Monica, CA

2005 Berman/Turner Projects, Flow Painting, Santa Monica, CA

2005 George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2004 Santa Monica Museum,Incognito, Santa Monica, CA

2004 George Billis Gallery West, Culver City, CA

2004 Watergarden, Promethea Sculpture & Installation, Santa Monica, CA

2004 George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2004 William Turner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2004 Highways Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2003 George Billis Gallery, New York, NY

2001 Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2001 Robert Kidd Gallery, Fresh Paint, Birm., MI

2001 SK Gallery, Off The Hook, Group Show, Venice, CA

2000 Highways Gallery, Meditation Paintings, Santa Monica, CA

2000 Aguirre Gallery, Wonder, Group Show, San Mateo, CA

2000 Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA

1997 PS 122, The Tarantella, Group Exhibition, New York, NY

1995 Apex Gallery, New York, NY

1992 Bornstein Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1990 Bornstein Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

1990 Paris, Peace Gallery, Paris, France

Selected Collections

The House of Saud

Jada Pinkett Smith & Will Smith

Todd Wagner

Apex Art Gallery, Tribecca, NY

Ibrahim Alkazi (The Sepia Collection) NY

Stevens Collection, NY

Sanskriti Foundation, New Delhi, India

Mel Ilberman, NY (CEO SONY Music Int’l)

Fred Wistow, NY (Warner Brothers Film, corporate council)

Richard Del Belso, CA (Warner Brothers)

AT&T, Corporate Collection

Double Tree Resorts, Scottsdale, AZ

Michael Korie, NY

Rebecca Goldstein, NY

Scottsdale Center for The Arts, Scottsdale, AZ

European Museum, Nassau Bahamas

American Bank, Corporate Collection

City of Mesa for Cultural Center, AZ

IBM, Corporate Collection

Sperry Rand Aerospace, Corporate Collection

TransAmerican, Corporate Collection

Bibliography

Budpaest Sun ‘08 (Cover Article)

Art Ltd. ’08 (Cover article)                                                                                                                               Mocoart ’07

Neatorama ‘07

Flavorpil, ’07

LA Weekly, Pick of the Week, ‘06

Malibu Press, ‘06

Pacific Palisadian, ‘05

Money Magazine, ‘05

Art Blogs LA, ‘05

Experience LA, ‘05

Flavorpill, ‘04

LA Weekly, Pick of the Week, Peter Frank, 11/’03

Venice Magazine, fall, ‘03

Unsigned Undesigned, ‘03

Los Angeles Times, Holly Myers, 4/’01

D’art International, Shana Nys Dombrot, Fall,’01

Artweek, Winter’01

Elle India, New Delhi, ’00

Outlook Magazine, India 4/’00

Span Magazine ’India 00

Art & Deal Summer, India ‘00

The Tarantella, 1997 Text by Patricia A. Simpson, P.S. 122