Painting Abstract, With Senses and Traces of Reality

I met artist Sue Karnet in a way typical for New York – at a random ‘meet-up’ gathering of like-minded people searching for connection; we clicked when discussing art and our hearts filled with joy when we found out we also shared a Czech background. Her father, a Czech journalist and writer Jiri Karnet, settled in New York; Sue was born a New Yorker.

When I visit Sue at her studio, we can spend hours talking about everything related to art, the art history classes she teaches, what we struggle with in our work or whether it’s worth gallery hopping anytime soon. During my last visit in February, her studio was filled up with canvases and new sculptures of her popular series of Butoh Dancers. As she has been preparing the artworks for her upcoming exhibition at BBLA Gallery, I asked her a series of questions about her creative endeavors.

Photo: Artist Sue Karnet in her studio in East Village, 2013. Photo by Katerina Kyselica.

The life of an artist is a continuous journey. When and how did your artistic journey begin?

When I was 5 years old, my mother enrolled me in an art class at MoMA. I think that I had liked drawing even before that because there are several photos of me when I was 3 or 4 drawing; I still have many drawings that my parents saved from when I was very young. I also took classes in ceramics from the age of 7 to 11 at the Henry Street Settlement. So thinking of myself as a creative person began at a very early age. Having a father who was a writer and who was interested in the arts in general also helped inspire me. Since my father worked at home and I was often there, I was used to seeing someone spending a lot of time doing something creative.

Photos: (Left) Sue as a creative child drawing. (Right) Sue with her father Jiri Karnet. Photo courtesy of Sue Karnet.

In the 1980s, when the New York art scene saw the resurgence of painting and conceptual art, you worked on your MFA thesis with Robert Morris, a prominent conceptual artist and abstract painter. What was it like to be growing up in this environment as an artist and how did it affect your artistic approach and visual language?

The era of the 1980s was a very exciting time to be a young artist. My studies at SVA and Hunter were very important for me. Robert Morris was very open-minded and I remember him talking about the contemporary architecture of New York City and films, and not just about painting and sculpture.

During this period New York was so different from today. It seemed that everything was happening around me in the neighborhood where I grew up, the East Village. At SVA, Keith Haring was also a student; I remember seeing him graffiti the staircases at school and even following along after him. Many of my classmates were showing their work in small galleries. The art scene was also re-energized by the new figurative and narrative works that many young but already established artists were doing, like David Salle and Julian Schnabel. Also, the city was still a little dangerous which also made it seem more edgy, not quite like the seventies, which I also remember. I really enjoyed it much more than today. I don’t care for the art scene or NYC that much now. I find it very predictable.

Photo: Sue at School of Visual Arts in 1982. Courtesy of Sue Karnet.

Your recent works, which will be on view at BBLA Gallery in April, are a fusion between total abstraction and recognizable imagery. When I look at your earlier painting from 1980s ‘La Vache Qui Rit’, with steers and their progression from life on the hoof to dead meat, and the recent works, I can see much less of the referential symbolism. Are you heading towards a total abstraction in your paintings?

I don’t think that is my direction. This struggle has been going on for me for many years. I think it makes painting very challenging.

Your studio practice includes not only painting, but drawing and sculpture. During my visit of your studio, we also looked through many collages. How exactly do you work across the media? Does work in painting inspire your work in sculpture or vice versa?

Drawing is central to all my creative activities. I think most clearly when I am drawing. I like to switch between painting and sculpture. I like the contrast and it is a way for me to gain some perspective about my work. When I switch to another medium I can look back and critique previous works with more clarity.

Photo: (Left) “La Vache Qui Rit”, 1982, acrylic on canvas. (Right) “Tugra”, 2012, acrylic on canvas. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Photo: (Left) “Untitled”, 2012, marker on paper. (Right) 3 Butoh Dancers, 2013, mixed media, photo of sculptures by Craig Radhuber. Courtesy of Sue Karnet.

Teaching art history, you constantly journey into the past where you help students discover and decipher symbols of various cultures. Your new series of paintings, all circular, features exactly such symbols. What inspired you for this series, and do you have a favorite historic period, art school or an artist?

I am constantly reviewing art history; I have been doing this for the past 10 years. I would have never thought when I was a student that I would be teaching art history. It was not my favorite subject when I was in school. But it has been one of the most important and inspiring things for me. It forces me to really keep looking at and thinking about an enormous variety of artworks. It was a very lucky thing.

This series comes directly from my love of Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art. I lived and taught ceramics in Cairo for one year and it was a seminal experience. At this time I don’t have a favorite artist. Over the years my feelings about specific artworks and artists has become more nuanced. I was just reading Roger Fry, the British art historian, he writes about Ancient Greek sculpture and how he feels that the Renaissance artists, even though great, never were able to attain the same level of achievement.

Thank you for your time, Sue. I am very excited to see your entire body of work in April at BBLA Gallery.

Photo: Paintings from the series “Ancient Evenings”,  2013, acrylic on canvas, size varies. Photo courtesy of the artist.