an interview with

FRED BLAUTH
FEBRUARY 7, 2018
REGION > PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

Fred Blauth: Where do the images in your paintings come from?

Susu: I am a person who likes to collect pictures. It could be from old magazines I've been saving for years, random cell phone pictures that I screenshot from Instagram, or that I take myself. If I become inspired by it, I will just save it in my phone. If you look at my cellphone I never have enough storage!

FB: I feel like your paintings illicite an eerie quality of recognition as you manipulate familiar and unfamiliar imagery found in real life and on screen.

S: I think that has something to do with me being a foreigner here. I always wish that through my paintings I can communicate or deliver my thoughts visually. That's why I choose images that are from very familiar movies, TV shows or cartoons. When people look at them, I wish those elements will help them know what kind of story I am trying to tell in relation to the personal components in my paintings.

I think the reason why I want to make paintings in a realistic way comes from my classical training. As a painter I was taught to make work that reflects something in reality. It's a building. It's a tree. It's a car. But with me, having a different thought toward those normal objects is a lot like the experiences I had moving here.

My paintings can be inspired by a very ordinary object that I own, the places I've been, or from photos I took of a scene. For me when I look at an object or scenery that seems familiar, I think to myself  "Ha! I know what this is!." Having these thoughtful reminders of familiarity gets me excited. On the contrary, when I see something that seems so unfamiliar, it makes me question why it feels so alien to me. Registering these questions of what feels familiar--and unfamiliar--has influenced my work.

FB: So what made you want to stay in the States?

S: While I was in the grad program at Carnegie Mellon I needed knee surgery. I was working in one of the shops and I cut myself. A chemical went into my blood which caused an infection that was very bad; it could have killed me. For over a year I kept visiting a doctor who couldn't figure out what was wrong with me, and at this point my knee had swollen so much, I had to work in a wheelchair. So that was very scary. In the end we had to do surgery to fix what was wrong, and I had to relearn how to walk and stand. It was very hard, but during the whole time, painting was the only thing that held me tight. I had to rethink about my life. I thought, "I could really die in a different country with no family or anyone else." If there was something else I wanted to do, what would it be? I decided to tell everybody that I was going to quit theatre right after I graduated and pursue painting again.

I think America is the right place for me too. I don't know what I would do if I went back to China. I started to study modern and contemporary art in the States which is what is inspiring me right now to develop as an artist.

FB: I love the phrase you mention to describe your work in your artist statement as “folding and unfolding an image.” Could you elaborate?

S: I think with realistic paintings it would be too easy or too straight forward to the viewer. I think that if I were to paint something that you could just "get" in one minute, then what's the point of me doing the painting? I should just give you the photo of the image. I think what makes a painting different from other art forms is that you have to really think about what I'm trying to tell or what's really going on through all the layers on canvas. In order to do that, one way to do it  would be to paint something that gives enough information to hook you with a component that the viewer recognizes. But then, hide some information, or "fold" part of it in so that you can't see.

The whole image exists only in each individuals head. I would never want to tell people "this is what I think about this or this is my work." I want my viewers to tell me what it might be.

FB: You received your degree in theatre from the Beijing Dance Academy and your MFA degree from Carnegie Mellon University. How have these studies influenced your painting practice? When and where did you learn to paint?

S: I always wanted to be a painter since I was very little. I started to go to painting classes when I was five and there I would hang out with the older kids. Those clubs were being held by Central Art Academy (one of the most selective schools in the country) for teenagers who were getting ready to apply for college. So when I was five or six I started to hang out with these teenagers. I was very young and I didn't really know what painting was about yet, I only new I liked to do it. During winter and summer breaks my mom dragged me to that studio and told me I couldn't just mess around at home.

I studied art in junior high and high school. When I was applying to college, I was accepted by a few art schools in Beijing but I chose to study theatre because I was offered a scholarship and I still wasn't sure of seeing myself in the future four years doing the same thing I've been doing before. I think if I didn't go to art school in junior high and high school maybe I would have wanted to go to college for fine art.

...My experience in theater has helped develop my painting method. In theater, it is always about thinking outside of the box. Every year the same plays and shows are recreated and it is up to the designer to bring something new to the table. In a similar way, I am constantly reworking the original concept of my painting. Usually, I start a painting with about 20% of the idea developed. Once I lay the groundwork, the painting evolves through a cycle of self reflection and critical thinking, much like a designer of a show. Thus, the final product is a natural progression from my original concept. It feels like a balancing act.

Images (top to bottom)
Dinner Table, 2017, oil on canvas, 36 x 28 inches
After William Eggleston, 2017, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
Frog, 2017, oil on canvas, 28 x 32 inches
Bricolage, 2017, oil on canvas, panel 2, 31 x 42 inches
Inauguration (detail), 2016, oil on canvas, Panel 2, 36 x 72 inches 

All images courtesy the artist.

Susu is a painter living and based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  She is slated to have a show at the Schoolhouse Art Center in Pittsburgh in March 2018, and a solo show in Pittsburgh at Bunker Projects in the fall.
artbysusu.com

Fred Blauth is a writer and curator based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
fredblauth.wordpress.com

REGION
A comprehensive feature on any state, area, or city that lacks mainstream coverage. Region considers the various factors that influence a particular art scene or art-making community, and how it sustains itself. Region also includes profiles of individuals influencing the area (be they curators, writers, artists, professors, etc.), and is always written by people familiar with the topography of the region’s art community. It can include interviews, op-eds, or dialogue in man other forms. Region aims to demystify specific art scenes for interested artists, educators, dealers, curators, advocates, and everything in-between.