Susan Reedy

Susan Reedy
Buffalo, New York, USA

STATEMENT

My work evokes the unconventional beauty of urban exterior surfaces that have accumulated layers of paper, text, graffiti, and accidental markmaking.

Of particular interest to me are urban walls, doorways, and advertisement posters 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.

My practice is process-oriented, resulting in a complex surface involving multiple layers of material and information. I repurpose discarded vintage papers-posters, dictionary, lexicon and sheet music pages-and use them in combination with paint and various drawing materials. I am 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 me. By selecting these abandoned and overlooked objects, my 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 formats.

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 “Collage 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

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