| Issue #40, January 11, 2008 |
Honoring the Artist: Susan Grossman
While artists have been painting Louse Point for decades, this week's cover by Susan Grossman evokes a setting few people can imagine. It's not the expansive, cheerful vista we're used to, but a mysterious, even claustrophobic perspective fraught with danger. A conversation with Ms. Grossman about her drawing doesn't offer obvious reasons for her point of view, but there are indirect explanations, nonetheless.
Q: This cover, "Blind Curve," is unusual not only for the mood it conveys, but also because you use color.
A: Yes, I did this several years ago, and it was one of the first drawings I did with color. I usually work in black and white, using charcoal.
Q: What does this work mean to you?
A: I love that you don't know what's behind the curve. It also has a sense of movement seen in the clouds.
Q: How are your urban landscapes of New York similar to this one?
A: My urban landscapes also have movement in them, an element of danger; something is always happening. I want to capture a moment in time.
Q: You've described your work as "film noir" and enigmatic. I can certainly see those aspects in your Louse Point drawing; it's relative to your employment of black and white drawings. Speaking of films, have you seen any recently that impress you?
A: I just saw Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which inspired me.
Q: How about artists who have inspired you?
A: Seurat's drawings, not his paintings. I go back to the time of Delacroix.
Q: What else inspires you? How about your training as an artist?
A: I went to Bennington College as an undergraduate. That had an important impact on me, how the program integrated the arts; I studied everything, the arts, literature.
Q: Have your 15-year-old twin sons influenced you as well?
A: Nick and Alex are my muses. They've given more to me than I've given to them. They have led me to the landscapes that I have drawn since I had to be in those places: the East End and New York.
Q: What advice would you give young artists or your students since you are involved in teaching?
A: Have a great heart; an artist has to have a little more heart than most people. Also stick with it, no matter what you do. Believe in what you have to say, even if you're a garbage man. I don't put anyone above anyone else.
Q: Where will you be 10 years from now?
A: Wherever it is, I hope I'm better than I am today.
- Marion Wolberg Weiss
For more information about Ms. Grossman's work, visit DFNgallery.com.
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