Susan Lisbin was born in 1948 in the Bronx and raised in New Jersey. She currently lives in Catskill, NY. She studied at the School of Fine and Applied Art at Boston University, at Ramapo College in New Jersey where she received a BA in painting and at Montclair State University where she received an MA in painting. Lisbin is a long-time local painter who started working in ceramics in 1981. She maintains studios in her home and in Foreland—a newly opened artist sanctuary in Catskill, where she can work with her kiln to create ceramics. Lisbin has previously shown at Carter Burden Gallery, New York, NY; Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY; the Catherine Fosnot Gallery and Art Center, New London, CT; Gallery Paquette, Boonton, NJ; M13 Howard Scott Gallery, New York, NY; Susan Eley Fine Art, Hudson, NYand others. She has been awarded residencies at the Horned Dorset Art Colony, Leonardsville, NY and the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Profoundly hard of hearing since age two, I have spent a lot of time silently observing others and my relationships to them. Discovering abstract expressionism freed me as a young, adult artist. My intuitive process led to my personal, artistic vocabulary. By exploring tension, sexuality, and humor in my art, I illustrate how people interact, flee from confinement, or stand their own ground. The relationships that fill us with infinite joy, that make us feel whole, or make us feel incomplete - are all part of life. Each piece is a unique platform from which juxtapositions and identities can be discovered. My artwork is made by building diverse forms with clay or paint. I form sexual appendages and exaggerated parts, I explore our eccentric, uniqueness to one another. The work is very tactile with color cementing its character. I offer the viewer an opportunity to see themselves in relation to others.
In these works, I explore linear, geometric and open shapes to create an illusionary dimension on my canvas. While this may be at odds with other aspects of my composition, I aim to create unity of the disjointed shapes I design. To help achieve my goal, I will start out doing paperworks. Using ink, acrylic paint, colored pencil and other mediums on paper will loosen me up to try new ideas. Then I will make two oil paintings on canvas that are large in scale and highlight the conversations each shape creates in response to its shared canvas.
