safe harbor


"birthday" is hanging at the port angeles fine art center as part of the show titled "safe harbor." jake seniuk has once again done an amazing job with this thematic exhibition 
which runs through october 10th.

the show uses port angeles's role as a harbor community to serve as the vehicle for exploring a broader interpretation of shelter and safety. here what was written about and my contribution...

"SUSAN MELRATH’s (Redmond) style of reductive figuration wrests emotion from her subjects with bold volumes of color and pattern rather than with descriptive detail. In the safe harbor of a birthday party, her faceless celebrants are expressions of archetypal roles in the nuclear family. That is not a specific child readying to blow out eight candles on the cake but the embodiment of unconditional acceptance."

why can't i ever write anything that insightful about my work? my husband has been asking for years why there are no faces on my figures and i'm not really sure. now i know - they are expressions of archetypal roles in the nuclear family. so there.






3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Susan, I find your work inspiring. It's such an interesting arrangement of shapes and colors. Nice review too!

susan said...

thank you, peggy!

Pen Brady Art said...

I find the lack of facial feature refreshing. It allows the viewer to insert their own mental images to what the features appear to them. A kind of audience participation, so to speak.