“Girl Crush” celebrates the female form. The exhibit will include large to mid-sized acrylic paintings on linen panels created over the past five years.

Throughout the series, the artistic style dances between abstraction and figuration Some of the new works use a few abstract lines and forms to capture the essence of femininity. Others embrace Susan’s detailed representational style. Her color palette ranges from just a few colors to produce soft and muted compositions to multiple colors employed to create vibrant and bold depictions. The traditional and modern methods are present separately and together. There are three distinct types of works apparent in the series: complete abstraction, detailed figuration, and a combination of both.

Opening Reception: Saturday, January 20, 2024 from 5:30 – 8:30pm.

Exhibit Run Dates: January 20-26, 2024.

BIOGRAPHY
Susan McLaughlin is recognized for her hauntingly imaginative and energetic paintings. Ms. McLaughlin currently lives and works in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida.
Ms. McLaughlin was born in Manhattan and lived and painted there for most of her life. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Parsons School of Design in New York City and a Master of Arts in Studio Art degree from New York University. She has been a visiting lecturer at Parsons, teaching courses in drawing, painting, cartooning , and illustration. Ms. McLaughlin is the author of Depingo Ergo Sum, a retrospective collection of work as a graphic designer, cartoonist, illustrator and painter and her essays on aesthetics. She has also written and illustrated several other books containing her poetry and illustrations.
In his foreward to Depingo Ergo Sum, John Torreano, Professor of Art at NYU and the Director of its Graduate Painting Program, wrote:
Ms. McLaughlin’s paintings show authority with brushwork and she maintains a consistently assertive and convincing quality in both style and image. She moves nimbly across subject matter, context and medium, in order to present a coherent artistic vision.
Ms. McLaughlin’s work has been shown in exhibitions at museums including the Monmouth Museum in New Jersey, The Bonnet House Museum, NSU Art Museum in Florida, and The Arnot Art Museum in New York. Her paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows at galleries in New York City; Miami; Milan, Italy; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Amsterdam, Netherlands, and throughout South Florida. She shows regularly at the Broward Art Guild, where she has won numerous awards, including multiple selections as Best in Show. Her paintings are in many private collections, including those of Calvin Klein, BBDO Advertising and Blue Rock Media.

(Click images to see larger versions)

ARTISTS STATEMENT
I paint to transform the chaos of memories, images, thoughts, colors, shapes, patterns and textures that swirl through my mind into something that reflects order and beauty-like when the shards in a kaleidoscope finally stop shifting and settle into a colorful, well-balanced composition.
The foundation of my painting is drawing. I work on linen panels, drawing the many elements I see in our hectic world along with those that pour out of my mind. Then I paint, repaint, and rearrange them until the painting becomes grounded. The multiplicity of images collectively form overall patterns. These patterns serve as an organizational device. The main figures end up subsumed in a world of flowers, butterflies, cupcakes, snails and so on. The chasm between the chaos of life and the coherence of the otherworldly, fantastical places I create imbues my paintings with poetry and mystery.
My paintings tell a story that continues to reveal itself with each viewing. Each painting contains multiple vignettes, some from my life and some purely from my imagination, forming an orderly artistic whole. The finished work tells not only my story but a story which resonates with the viewer.
I seek to transform the dissonance around us into balance and harmony.

Location: Broward Art Guild Gallery, 3280 NE 32nd Street, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308

Gallery Hours: Wed., Fri., Sat., noon-9pm; Thurs., noon-6pm