UCSD Open Studios: Susannah Bielak

Susannah Bielak

My work explores points of contact, points of disconnect, and the breaking of boundaries between people. My vision is from above, from underneath, from the side�always telescoping. What I notice are people. Inspired by the interplay of identity and space, I use drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and installation to envision ideas about personal and social relationships. Propelled by social questions, I cut things down to their most essential parts�using elemental lines to relay physical and psychological space. Working largely with the figure, I employ gesture, the emotion of color, and sensory detail to choreograph each work.

For the last six months I've been obsessed with political handshakes�watching how hands skirt, graze, bow, divulge. The handshake can serve as a greeting, an offering, a truce, a false promise. A handshake can be a point of connection or intimacy, an expression of affection, or, at least, a willingness to engage. Whether orchestrated, spontaneous, or mediated; consoling, congratulatory, or confusing, the hands tell a story. So too do flowers.They are another oft-cited symbol, from break-up bouquets to dignitary gestures. There's a parallel between the decorum and euphemism in the orchestrated body language of politicians and the sentiment of flowers.

Here, Reagan and Gorbachev, trading pens like a pinky swear over the arms race, white roses for Betty Ford.

susannahbielak.com

Artist CV

Susannah Bielak

Artists