Family Recollections

Family Recollections

Sue Collier

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 17 | 3-5pm

Artist Talk: Saturday, June 24 | 3-4pm

This body of work consists of large and small figurative paintings from memory, imagination and plein air. The figure remains central to most of my work but because of the nature of plein air, working with a time/light pressure the figure is often omitted. Later in the studio I will sometimes add figures. The figure is meaningful, it is the subject and tells the story, becomes the story, and makes the painting. I am observing experiences from my life, distinctly depicting Americans who were raised here. As fortunate as I think we have been as Americans, we are a complex people with unique understandings and feelings that I believe leaves us with an unusual psychological weight of emotions that I want to record. 

“The people in these paintings, who might have walked out of compositions by Hopper or Marsh, always looked oddly in repose, their apparent languor underscored by the geometry of the composition. But even then, one came away with the impression that some sort of tension roiled beneath each work’s shimmering surface.” Carol Kino, who writes about all aspects of art and the art world – from artists, museums, galleries, and the market to museum issues, art history, conservation, and art law. 

Sue Collier has lived and worked in New York City for over thirty years and is a 2020 NYFA Fellow. She has exhibited nationally and her work has been reviewed by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Art News, Art in America, and Art New England, among other publications.