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click images to enlarge   When I'm Thinking Of You I'm Thinking Are You Thinking Of Me?, 48" x 24" Acrylic and Oil on Panel 2007 Are You Thinking of Me? 36" x 28" Oil and acrylic on panel 2007   Pretty Ugly 24" x 24" Acrylic and gold leaf on panel 2007   Princess Dreams I 20" x 16" Acrylic on board 2002   See Monkey Do Monkey II 48" x 36" Acrylic and gold leaf on panel 2007   Wandering Through 24" x 24" Oil and acrylic on panel 2007

Susannah Bettag Artist Statement A sense of humor and cynicism is integral in my paintings and the questions they ask. They are not works of feminist political critique; instead they reflect the often-confusing internal landscape and external surroundings with which we all live. Furthermore, they are intended to be exquisite objects, ones that give the viewer a visceral sense of pleasure. They are full of contrasts, built up of layers that both hide and highlight, depicting an exploration of fantasy and imagination. They touch on the always-alluring topic of sex but with a fusion of whimsy and irony, and everyone can react differently as they add their personal layer of fantasy interpretation. The intricate and delicate details, some recognizable, some confusing, echo the chaos of internal musing; and in their complexity and obsessiveness, they reference the high level of detail and craft of traditional women's art (the sampler, the quilt, the needlepoint). The nudes, pulled from hardcore pornography, reference the traditional nude, the odalisque, but their overt sexuality shocks, disturbs, and titillates. Approaching the paintings is a journey in itself. They are time bombs of content and meaning, of color and feelings. It is in seeing the layers unfold that the work reveals itself. From a distance, the finely detailed small objects—which include indeterminate, sexually charged body parts, seemingly biological minutia, swarms of vulva-like shapes—spill out and form clouds and intertwined swarms across the surface. Colors behind these items, and sometimes confusing, questioning text, invite closer inspection. And as the viewers look closer they see more. Behind everything is a large-scale close up of women. Women entwined, women unclothed, drawn from the male-gaze of pornography. In this moment—when one sees the hardcore images, huge, behind the precisely articulated, tiny images in the foreground—the contrasts become clear. Layers of meaning, just like layers of identity, literally lay one over the other. The contrasts within the paintings encourage questions as to what is real and what is fantasy, what is mine (or yours) and what is adopted. The paintings challenge the viewer to choose what to look at - the details of the tiny hidden stories, the interplay of color or the graphic large nude pictures. The objects and their context become a visual vocabulary that brings up difficult questions on subjects such as sexuality and self worth. The paintings allow the transformation of fantasy and subconscious into the material. As the viewer considers the paintings, I hope they notice and examine their reactions to the complex imagery. This work asks more questions than it answers. What do you see? What do you feel? Where does this lead you? Whose fantasies are these? __________________________________________________________________   Group  Exhibitions 2007 Vanitas Baby. Solo Show, Frey Norris Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Los Angeles Art Show, Los Angeles, CA.   2006 Blood For Art, with Quorum, SF. Scope, Miami, FL. Bridge Art Fair, with Frey Norris Gallery, Miami, FL. Queen of the Night; Women Under the Influence, 1966-2006 . Berman/Turner Projects [Gallery C2], Los Angeles, CA. CONCEALED/REVEALED, with Fresh Women. Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Eat Me. Frey Norris Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Resident Artists. Red Ink Studios Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Los Angeles Art Show, Los Angeles, CA. 2005 AAF, New York, NY. Labyrinth, Red Ink Studios Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Preview, Shakey Hand Gallery, Martinez, CA. Vessels, Shown at Hinc Showroom, San Francisco, CA. Fresh - Fresh Women, Red Ink Studios Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Liquid Paper, Red Ink Studios Gallery, San Francisco, CA.  2004 CommonWealth, San Francisco, CA. Scope LA, Los Angeles, CA. Dirty Little Secrets 2, Solo Show, Propeller, San Francisco, CA. Scope NY, New York, NY. Crush/Crushed, The Canvas Gallery, San Francisco, CA. 2003 Selections 2003: the Best of San Francisco’s Emerging Artists, Mills Building, San Francisco, CA. Internal Workings, Solo Show, Parlor Projects, San Francisco, CA. Dirty Little Secrets, Solo Show, Propeller, San Francisco, CA. Reclaiming the Hollow, San Francisco, CA. 2002 Women’s Work. Solo Show, Parlor Projects, San Francisco, CA. Independent Film Festival Show, SOMARTS, San Francisco, CA. Women’s Work, Solo Show, Cafe Lola, San Francisco, CA.  _____________________________________________________   Education 1991 - BA (honors) in Illustration, Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts, London, England. 1988 - Foundation Course in Art and Design, Oxford Polytechnic/Brooks University, Oxford, England.

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