This is a short artist bio for a gallery publication.
Susan Napack isn’t just an artist.
Her work as a whole defies simple, ready-made classification. To say that it’s sculpture, printmaking, photography, embroidery, and so forth, is not enough.
No, she isn’t just an artist; she’s an alchemist who transmutes ordinary objects into something exceptional and beautiful.
At first glance, her pieces seem comfortable — a found-object sculpture, a painting, a portrait, some embroidery. But on closer examination, that paper cutout is an orange peel. That’s a doll’s head fused with a wishbone. That’s not, in fact, a painting of an imagined solar system; it’s a manipulated photograph of a stitched thread drawing that began as a photograph printed on silk.
Her work is visually tactile and joyfully dark. It’s at once visceral and almost, but not quite, familiar. There is a hint of a narrative guiding you through the pieces — it’s the artist’s story and we get to experience it.
“From my early childhood, I have been a collector and organizer of objects. So I just start putting things together and let the surprises unfold. And then I want to know more. What does it mean and where will it take me next?”
This is the artist quote for a specific display
“These thread paintings are inspired by the study of the unseen, whether that means on the microscopic level, the universe of my imagination or the reality that lies underneath the merely visual. But working with the unseen requires a certain appreciation of darkness and a willingness to invite the shadows to come out and play. So that’s what I do. And then I allow the stories to reveal themselves while I follow along with my needle. I never know what a finished piece will look like and I’m always charmed by the joy and the strangeness that come through. I hope you will be, too.”
Jill Hohnstein 