Getting in Tune with Susan Zoon
Susan Zoon combines a political heart and
Cubist-influenced art to speak her mind.
By Bruce B. Blackburn III
This day, Susan Zoon’s personal color scheme consists of short blonde hair, clear blue eyes, a long-sleeved shirt left untucked over blue jeans, and flip-flops. It’s simple and basic- something the artist’s paintings definitely aren’t.
Going from room to room in her Furlong, PA, home she explains the messages contained in the artwork on her walls. On one hand, her paintings have an intrinsic prima facie appeal, a mixture of realism and abstraction with healthy amounts of cubism whisked in that exert a visually undeniable tug on the eyes. She paints recognizable subjects tinged with other-dimensional accents born of influences such as Picasso, Rivera, Chagall and Jacques-Louis David.
“I’m trying to create a bridge between Abstraction and Realism; It’s somewhere between Cubism and Surrealism,” she says.
On the other hand, as the barker insists, you can’t tell the players without a scorecard …and to experience the full impact of a Zoon painting you need to know what it’s about. Once you know the intent of a Zoon image and the story it represents, it reaches past the visual plane into your subconscious soul. Knowing the significance behind each image, you can never see it the same way again.
Moral Expressionism
Her art begs two levels of appreciation: visual and intellectual. “That’s exactly the reaction I want to solicit from people,” she says. “I want them first to enjoy it as art and, secondly, question what it’s about.” Zoon is a painter with a purpose, a maverick artist with a mission, and a master of moral expressionism.
The truth is, Susan Zoon is a committed feminist and political activist who regularly donates her services to women’s organizations and political groups seeking to utilize her art and organizational skills. Her paintings aren’t “pretty”. They’ve got punch and pith and are designed to stimulate thought and discussion. They ask questions like, “Can you believe this?” and “Isn’t that deplorable!” They occupy wall space with in-your-face commentary on issues she’s happy to explore conversationally, given the opportunity.
She has the knack for the double entendre, the clever title. One of her past shows at the Riverrun Gallery in Lambertville, NJ, in which she exhibited politically and socially charged paintings, was titled Contents Under Pressure- a warning label caution that could well describe the artist herself. She is neatly bursting with energy and the passion to communicate her beliefs through her art. Overall, her paintings tackle topics as diverse a online day-trading, brand name politics, the death of Communism, AIDS, racism, women’s issues, gun control, ethnic cleansing, political scandals and Tibet. “I don’t believe in victimization…I’m a political junkie.” She admits.
Last year she painted King of Hearts, a face-card-styled portrait of William Jefferson Clinton that was acquired for the White House collection of the President and Hillary Rodham Clinton. She has also painted multivalent images of George Bush and Al Gore. Another one- woman show was titled The Leadership Thing, and her paintings carry names like Safe Sex (about birth control), The Day Traders
(a seductively dangerous “virtual reality thrill ride”), Bones to Pick
(in which a skeletal tax-payer’s bones are being picked clean by Government), Ethnic Cleansing (relating to the plight of suffering women in Bosnia) and Divided We Stand (decrying the poison of political and racial divisiveness and what’s it’s doing to this country).
Big Canvases, Big Ideas
Born in Passaic, NJ, the 48-year-old artist painted aimlessly through high school, focusing on classical techniques and the minutiae of anatomy. On graduation she traveled to Mexico to attend the Instituto Allende, and left determined to career in art. For a while she worked as costume and set designer for a northern New Jersey repertory opera company. And in 1976, relocated to Bucks County, PA to begin a three-year stint as principal costume designer for the Philadelphia Civic Ballet.
In the meantime, Susan taught herself the delicate art of antique Chinese ceramic restoration, sharpening her skills until she became one of the premier experts in the country. She painted portraits here and there in a realistic fashion until the mid-1980’s when she left everything behind but her current style, a technique as unique as a fingerprint.
She likes to paint big, on large canvases, because she paints big ideas, makes bold statements, and needs room to say what she wants to say. “It makes more impact,” she reasons, ”This style need space on the canvas, it doesn’t reduce well. I couldn’t otherwise articulate that much detail in smaller spaces.”
There’s another side to the artist that shines like a full moon on a swarthy night. In addition to her accomplishments in the visual arts-
she has won accolades for group and one-woman shows. Received numerous awards, is in demand as an art lecturer and has been featured on the popular cable television series, “Art Beat” - she also pens a cultish genre of literature called vampire fiction. “It’s a good way to channel my aggressions,” she laughs.
In 1993, no longer content to restrict her artistic expression to the canvas, she began an illustrated novel, Vampire Lover. Two years later it was registered with the Library of Congress and in 1997, it was published at WritersHood.com, a monthly internet fiction magazine where she currently serves as Horror Page Editor and contributes a monthly column and book reviews. Her current literary projects include a short story collection titled Post Crypt, sequels to Vampire Lover titled Lethal and Media Vampire, as well as a medieval vampire tome, Planting Forgiveness.
Nothing to Chance
Not surprisingly, ideas suggest themselves to Zoon through current events, social and political, from magazines and newspapers. She sometimes has the title before she has the image, working from a concept from the start. “When I get and idea in my head, I collect other visual images before I actually sketch; magazine photographs, newspaper photographs, anything that strikes me as fitting what I want to do. I use them as creative tools.”
Her paintings are intricate and carefully conceived. First she sketches her images on large white paper, photographs them. Makes slides and projects them on the canvas. Then the painting begins. Like writers who fashion detailed outlines before crafting their prose, she builds her images on a well-thought-out matrix. “They’re all highly planned. I’m not a spontaneous painter, I’m extremely methodical.” Yet at some point in the process, it’s almost as if another hand is guiding her brush.
“When I paint, I’m in a fugue. I’ve found a way to just open that door. It’s like channeling. It’s hard to say when I developed it, but I found the door to my subconscious mind. You’ve heard of automatic writing? I feel like I’m doing automatic painting, like I’m a conduit.”
While painting, she listens to an eclectic variety of music, from Buddhist chants to Elvis Costello. However, since the mid eighties her style has been visually distinct, a single clear note in a world of visual music that grasps the eye and says Listen! It is art that doubles as illustration; as a story accompanies each work of art, so is her art a complementary accompaniment to the story.
Why Art?
“The role of art,” she says, “is to enrich the lives of the people you hope will see it. It doesn’t have to be my art, but I want people to go look at art, to turn off the TV and go to a gallery somewhere. It will change them. I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to pander. I’m painting my legacy, no matter what anybody thinks of it.” Susan Zoon believes art is an integral component of civilization, that she is duty bound to interact creatively with humankind and that she is just getting fueled up for the journey ahead. Intimating great things to come, she declares, “I feel like I’m sitting on a rocket launcher!” d
Reprinted from September 2001 Fine Arts Edition of NOUVEAU Magazine
Susan Zoon combines a political heart and
Cubist-influenced art to speak her mind.
By Bruce B. Blackburn III
This day, Susan Zoon’s personal color scheme consists of short blonde hair, clear blue eyes, a long-sleeved shirt left untucked over blue jeans, and flip-flops. It’s simple and basic- something the artist’s paintings definitely aren’t.
Going from room to room in her Furlong, PA, home she explains the messages contained in the artwork on her walls. On one hand, her paintings have an intrinsic prima facie appeal, a mixture of realism and abstraction with healthy amounts of cubism whisked in that exert a visually undeniable tug on the eyes. She paints recognizable subjects tinged with other-dimensional accents born of influences such as Picasso, Rivera, Chagall and Jacques-Louis David.
“I’m trying to create a bridge between Abstraction and Realism; It’s somewhere between Cubism and Surrealism,” she says.
On the other hand, as the barker insists, you can’t tell the players without a scorecard …and to experience the full impact of a Zoon painting you need to know what it’s about. Once you know the intent of a Zoon image and the story it represents, it reaches past the visual plane into your subconscious soul. Knowing the significance behind each image, you can never see it the same way again.
Moral Expressionism
Her art begs two levels of appreciation: visual and intellectual. “That’s exactly the reaction I want to solicit from people,” she says. “I want them first to enjoy it as art and, secondly, question what it’s about.” Zoon is a painter with a purpose, a maverick artist with a mission, and a master of moral expressionism.
The truth is, Susan Zoon is a committed feminist and political activist who regularly donates her services to women’s organizations and political groups seeking to utilize her art and organizational skills. Her paintings aren’t “pretty”. They’ve got punch and pith and are designed to stimulate thought and discussion. They ask questions like, “Can you believe this?” and “Isn’t that deplorable!” They occupy wall space with in-your-face commentary on issues she’s happy to explore conversationally, given the opportunity.
She has the knack for the double entendre, the clever title. One of her past shows at the Riverrun Gallery in Lambertville, NJ, in which she exhibited politically and socially charged paintings, was titled Contents Under Pressure- a warning label caution that could well describe the artist herself. She is neatly bursting with energy and the passion to communicate her beliefs through her art. Overall, her paintings tackle topics as diverse a online day-trading, brand name politics, the death of Communism, AIDS, racism, women’s issues, gun control, ethnic cleansing, political scandals and Tibet. “I don’t believe in victimization…I’m a political junkie.” She admits.
Last year she painted King of Hearts, a face-card-styled portrait of William Jefferson Clinton that was acquired for the White House collection of the President and Hillary Rodham Clinton. She has also painted multivalent images of George Bush and Al Gore. Another one- woman show was titled The Leadership Thing, and her paintings carry names like Safe Sex (about birth control), The Day Traders
(a seductively dangerous “virtual reality thrill ride”), Bones to Pick
(in which a skeletal tax-payer’s bones are being picked clean by Government), Ethnic Cleansing (relating to the plight of suffering women in Bosnia) and Divided We Stand (decrying the poison of political and racial divisiveness and what’s it’s doing to this country).
Big Canvases, Big Ideas
Born in Passaic, NJ, the 48-year-old artist painted aimlessly through high school, focusing on classical techniques and the minutiae of anatomy. On graduation she traveled to Mexico to attend the Instituto Allende, and left determined to career in art. For a while she worked as costume and set designer for a northern New Jersey repertory opera company. And in 1976, relocated to Bucks County, PA to begin a three-year stint as principal costume designer for the Philadelphia Civic Ballet.
In the meantime, Susan taught herself the delicate art of antique Chinese ceramic restoration, sharpening her skills until she became one of the premier experts in the country. She painted portraits here and there in a realistic fashion until the mid-1980’s when she left everything behind but her current style, a technique as unique as a fingerprint.
She likes to paint big, on large canvases, because she paints big ideas, makes bold statements, and needs room to say what she wants to say. “It makes more impact,” she reasons, ”This style need space on the canvas, it doesn’t reduce well. I couldn’t otherwise articulate that much detail in smaller spaces.”
There’s another side to the artist that shines like a full moon on a swarthy night. In addition to her accomplishments in the visual arts-
she has won accolades for group and one-woman shows. Received numerous awards, is in demand as an art lecturer and has been featured on the popular cable television series, “Art Beat” - she also pens a cultish genre of literature called vampire fiction. “It’s a good way to channel my aggressions,” she laughs.
In 1993, no longer content to restrict her artistic expression to the canvas, she began an illustrated novel, Vampire Lover. Two years later it was registered with the Library of Congress and in 1997, it was published at WritersHood.com, a monthly internet fiction magazine where she currently serves as Horror Page Editor and contributes a monthly column and book reviews. Her current literary projects include a short story collection titled Post Crypt, sequels to Vampire Lover titled Lethal and Media Vampire, as well as a medieval vampire tome, Planting Forgiveness.
Nothing to Chance
Not surprisingly, ideas suggest themselves to Zoon through current events, social and political, from magazines and newspapers. She sometimes has the title before she has the image, working from a concept from the start. “When I get and idea in my head, I collect other visual images before I actually sketch; magazine photographs, newspaper photographs, anything that strikes me as fitting what I want to do. I use them as creative tools.”
Her paintings are intricate and carefully conceived. First she sketches her images on large white paper, photographs them. Makes slides and projects them on the canvas. Then the painting begins. Like writers who fashion detailed outlines before crafting their prose, she builds her images on a well-thought-out matrix. “They’re all highly planned. I’m not a spontaneous painter, I’m extremely methodical.” Yet at some point in the process, it’s almost as if another hand is guiding her brush.
“When I paint, I’m in a fugue. I’ve found a way to just open that door. It’s like channeling. It’s hard to say when I developed it, but I found the door to my subconscious mind. You’ve heard of automatic writing? I feel like I’m doing automatic painting, like I’m a conduit.”
While painting, she listens to an eclectic variety of music, from Buddhist chants to Elvis Costello. However, since the mid eighties her style has been visually distinct, a single clear note in a world of visual music that grasps the eye and says Listen! It is art that doubles as illustration; as a story accompanies each work of art, so is her art a complementary accompaniment to the story.
Why Art?
“The role of art,” she says, “is to enrich the lives of the people you hope will see it. It doesn’t have to be my art, but I want people to go look at art, to turn off the TV and go to a gallery somewhere. It will change them. I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to pander. I’m painting my legacy, no matter what anybody thinks of it.” Susan Zoon believes art is an integral component of civilization, that she is duty bound to interact creatively with humankind and that she is just getting fueled up for the journey ahead. Intimating great things to come, she declares, “I feel like I’m sitting on a rocket launcher!” d
Reprinted from September 2001 Fine Arts Edition of NOUVEAU Magazine
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