Biennial Artist: Susan Prince Thompson
Run Time: 4:07
Susan Prince Thompson (United States, born 1953), Visionary, 2008, brown paper bags, white prismacolor, ink, cut-out with tiny scissors, variable. Lent by the artist.
My drawings hover on the cusp of three dimensions. I am a sculptor who loves to draw with traditional media and to make drawings by intricately cutting paper. Air, light, shadows, and reflections are all important elements in the work, which derives many of its processes from world textile traditions. Tibetan prayer flags, birthday garlands, Mexican papel picado, and the playful strings of triangular vinyl flags fluttering around American car lots have always intrigued me in the way they animate and define an area. They all make you aware of the air and space overhead, leading your eye along, bit by bit, as if they were words in a sentence or frames of a comic book. I am amazed by the magic of something that is lightweight and insubstantial enough to be packed into a carry-on suitcase, yet it can be unfurled to command the space of an entire room in a museum, church, or circus tent.
When I was a very young artist, I never made anything that was not a gift for somebody. As a mature artist, I continue to think of my work as an offering, though the gifts are no longer dedicated to specific individuals. The fragility and impermanence of my materials is not of special significance. I work with whatever seems most intriguing to me at the time.
“Videre amare est/Amo oculus est.”
(To see is to love/Love is the eye.)
-Richard of Saint Victor