Susan Jamison

Artist Statement

My egg tempera paintings feature a female figure whose body is decorated with a hot pink, flowery, pattern reminiscent of embroidery that associates her with extreme femininity. The paintings incorporate plants and animals, domestic objects and symbols that reference culturally familiar stories and images. I take inspiration from a wide range of sources including Fairy Tales, Renaissance portraiture, scientific, botanical and avian illustration, Persian miniatures and fashion design.

In my compositions, the figures appear either as cropped and isolated parts of the body or as very formal Renaissance inspired portraits in which medical illustrations of the head are appropriated and modified into archetypal images of women in a dream state. The animals and plants are chosen for their symbolic associations and lend the female figures a contemporary, feminist inspired Snow White character. Domestic objects such as sewing scissors, needles, thread and lace honor traditionally feminine arts. Stylistically, subjects are painted in a precise detailed style that eschews shadow in favor of a flat, illustrative light. The paintings have light cream or dark coal backgrounds that create an undefined or even infinite sense of space.

Susan Jamison’s Website

Susan Jamison at Spanierman Modern Gallery