Susan Reedy

Susan Reedy
Buffalo, New York, USA

STATEMENT

Susan Reedy utilizes vintage ephemera that she deconstructs and then reconfigures onto canvas and paper in order to evoke urban exterior surfaces that have accumulated layers of paper, text, graffiti, and accidental mark-making.

Of particular interest to her are urban walls, doorways, and construction site surrounds where layers of newly accumulated paper and text are partially torn away to reveal portions of what lies beneath the surface, alluding to remnants of the past and the present simultaneously. The unconventional beauty of these exterior surfaces lies in their transformation as they become a visual recording of time’s passage. Layers of text and imagery emerge and recede, creating palimpsest surfaces that reflect the passage of time, exposure to the elements, and benign neglect.

Her practice is process-oriented, resulting in a complex surface involving multiple layers of material and information. She is drawn to source material that has a sense of history to it, particularly things that are perceived as being imperfect. Papers and books that are torn, marked on, held together with string or tape, anything that shows that the object has had a history and life of its own as it is passed from one hand to another is of interest to her. By selecting these abandoned and overlooked objects, Reedy’s practice both transforms and elevates essentially discarded ephemera, once functional in our society, now obsolete as we have marked the shift from analog to digital forms of communication.

BIO

Susan Reedy’s collage-based work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues that include the Buffalo AKG Museum, Pierogi Gallery, The Border Project Space, Equity Gallery, Anna Kaplan Contemporary, Islip Art Museum, Concord Center for the Visual Arts, and OK Harris Gallery. Her work has been featured in ArtMaze and Kolaj magazines, and was selected for Kolaj magazine’s “Artist Trading Cards Pack 8”. Reedy’s work was included in Luis Camnitzer’s project “The Last Book”, which traveled to multiple international venues, and Molly Sampson’s public art project “Post No Bills” in Huntington, New York. Her work is in multiple private and public collections, including the Castellani Art Museum, Memorial Art Gallery, Mobil Corporation, and Roswell Park Comprehensive
Cancer Center.

ARTIST CONTACT

susanreedy.com
Instagram

IMAGES