Artist: Susan English

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts presents Still Light, an exhibition of new work by Susan English. Still Light is English’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Ethereal and minimal, Susan English’s paintings play with light and space. She employs transparent pigments and layering to manipulate light and illuminate her color fields. Soft variations and subtle textures appear across the gauzy surfaces soothing and disrupting the meditative environment. Describing the importance of light in her work, English writes, “Paintings, in a sense, are "still light"—light captured and distilled into permanence. My work is a response to my experience of light. Color is light and light is color. The color, which is made by pouring layers of tinted transparent polymer onto panels or paper, creates an event of still light. In this stillness, there is something both timeless and calming.”

English pioneered a technique of pouring and manipulating tinted polymer that allows her to produce a wide variety of textures, shades, opacities and finishes. The fluid application of polymer creates opportunities for spontaneous marks as English balances between control and appreciating the unexpected.

English holds an MFA from Hunter College and has held solo exhibitions across New York State, Connecticut, California, and Texas since 2001. She was awarded the NYSS Mercedes Matter Award in 2020, and has completed several fellowships and residencies throughout her career. English’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Widewalls Magazine, Whitehot Magazine, Chronogram, Abstract Art Online, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Highlands Current. She lives and works in Cold Spring, NY .