Were all these skills essentially aquired at art college?
It came essentially from a show I saw in Brooklyn when I was working as a student in their atelier and it was an exhibition on the Expressionists & The Fauvists and that was a shock. All of a sudden I realised I could put any colour I wanted in, because I'd already studied the Impressionists of course in Paris. I always loved to be outside anyway and they basically worked with light and that was very important, but it wasn't really my way with little tiny brush strokes - Pointillism? - Yes. This wasn't my way of expressing myself. And so when I was in the Art Museum in front of all these Expressionist paintings and focused, I just realised that ‘oh I can actually do whatever I want’ and that's how I ended up with my style.
You have a rich cultural history, can you explain how you got to spend time in Paris and New York?
Yes, I went to University of Brooklyn in the United States, but I won a scholarship to come to Paris to study and in a letter my professor wrote to me, he said “Suzy - go and study!”. It was the very first influence of colour and I was also at the age when tagging started (okay - what does that mean?) that is when we drew with lots of crayons on walls and graffiti! It has interesting parallels with painting - it’s a question of composition and balance, which is what I was starting to explore back then and is still an important aim for me in my work today.
I love your work - there is so much light, energy, movement and vivid colour. It's all the things I appreciate - it is truly inspirational! So your artistic influences were clearly the Fauves, the Expressionists - Do you have a favourite artist?
I feel a connection with Matisse and that era, which has been a strong influence in my work. He was always into movement and that's something that I really like, so that’s been my response too. In Paris I did lots of studies of people in the cafes, at the winter circus, at boxing matches, I also did a lot of motion drawings of bicycle riders, runners, players, animals, because I like to capture movement and that's how I learned to draw. I think when I work I like to move, because it mirrors nature and it should move on the canvas.
I see the influence perhaps of Ferdinand Hodler?
Somebody once came up to me and said “Oh my goodness that's a Hodler” and the only thing I can respond with is that “I discovered him only very recently”. But I can see the similarities of my work with his, in the use of the horizon line, flat colours and reflections in the water. I love all kinds of art and from all eras, but I like to work the way I feel and I don't really look back at one artist, so what I studied in the history of art I have in my head. and there's something to learn from all of the great artists as well as some of the new artists.
