Flock-H264

source: artslant

My work, while appearing abstract, is about ideas that use their intended form as a springboard to create believable though not necessarily real forms. I try to evoke the essence of an object, remaking the known into something uncommon and transformative. The architecture of a space becomes an integral part of each piece. Working between 2 and 3 dimensions, my sculptural drawings investigate line, perception and optics. I love the illusional play on shape and space and the transformative idea of a circle used as an escape hole in Bugs Bunny cartoons. Line is the obvious “hole” to work with because it can be rendered flat, given shape, depth or extended into space. Semiotics has in part influenced my work as sign, symbol or communicative behavior. Sometimes it represents universal laws on the natural world, and may show systems of life processes as subjective universes. SInce 2005 I sometimes add video to my installations. What I find so appealing about this medium is that it is concept driven, time based, sensory and completes my static work. Its ability to be fluid yet manipulated is similar to my working process. I can alter the intuitive way information is recalled or processed, add sequence to change an association or visual perception, just as I change the outcome of a form.

Suzan is a recipient of various awards and grants including a regional Artist Resource Trust grant from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, Great Barrington, MA, an international CEC Artslink grant, NYC, NY, an artist fellowship from Art Matters, NYC, NY and Individual Artist Fellowships from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. She has been awarded Artist Residencies that include Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY and The Bemis Foundation, Omaha, NE.

Internationally she has exhibited at Proyecto Ace in Buenos Aires, Argentina, The Palace Ujazdowski Contemporary Art Center, Warsaw, Poland, Rogue Art Gallery, Victoria, Canada, Berlin Kunstferin and the University of Freiburg, Germany, Centro Colombo Americano Gallery in Bogota and Medellin, Columbia, The Swedish Archives in Bjaared, Sweden ArtPolitika, Russia and her national exhibits include in NY The Alternative Museum, WAX, Abrons Art Center/ Henry Street Settlement, Souyun Yi Gallery, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art and Real Art Ways in CT and the Laguna Beach Art Museum in California.

Her work is in collections such as the Villa Taverna Foundation, The Bemis Foundation, Rhode Island College and Sacred Heart University and she has been a guest lecturer and visiting artist at universities and conferences both nationally and internationally. Shutan is an Artist Mentor for MFA Candidates at Transart Institute, Danube University in Krems, Austria and currently teaches Sculpture at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
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source: suzanshutan

Suzan Shutan was born in New Haven Connecticut. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting/Drawing from California Institute of the Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Installation from Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts. She has lived and worked in Germany, France and New York City, NY. Shutan has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, Quinnipiac University, CT, University of Omaha, NE and currently teaches Sculpture at Housatonic Community College. She has attended artist residencies, has been awarded grants that include CEC Artslink, Art Matters, Berkshire Taconic Foundation’s A.R.T, and recently a Fellowship in Sculpture from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism funding all work created in 2012-13. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally including Bank of America Headquarters in N. Carolina and internationally in Germany, France, Sweden, Poland, Argentina, Russia, Canada and Columbia. She has been reviewed by the NY Times, High Performance Magazine, and has work in private and public collections such as the Villa Taverna Foundation and UCLA.