Her game was bright, vivid paintings inspired by film noir stills. She loaded her canvases with swirling Ab-Ex tropes. Casual viewers could take them for cheerful. They�d be wrong. A girl gingerly approaching a man who�s holding a paring knife, a doll
slapping a rake in the kisser, two gimlet-eyed dames waiting in a car
for trouble�all the color in the world couldn�t stifle the want or the
fear in these paintings. That was the point. Look at them, sure, she
said, but then drink them in.
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| Susan Bee, Trouble Ahead, 2012, oil on canvas, 20″ x 24″ |
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| Susan Bee, The Slap, 2012, oil and enamel on canvas, 24 x 20 inches. |
“Susan Bee: Criss Cross, New Paintings,” Accola Griefen Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY. Through June 29, 2013
Image at top of post: Susan Bee, Criss Cross, 2012, oil, enamel and sand on canvas, 24″ x 30″
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The paintings are marvelously evocative. I must add that your rendering of the verbal style and tone of film noir is pitch-perfect.
These are excellent! I love the feeling in "Trouble Ahead."