Artist Statement
I am a mixed-media artist using printmaking, sculpture, and animation. My art resembles abstracted biomorphic human figures, organic shapes, and imagined archaeological artifacts, bridging humans and the environment. Driven by process and materials, my work reimagines the human experience through our surroundings. Drawing attention to the overlooked and often forgotten aspects in life, I invite viewers to see the world through a lens that celebrates the raw, unrefined beauty of the earth.
A core part of my art involves creating my materials from the land—using pigments, clay, and minerals. This direct engagement with nature infuses my work with the physical essence of the environment. By grinding minerals and harvesting soil, I collaborate with the earth, creating textures and colors emphasizing natures’s fragility and beauty.
My process begins with printmaking. Prints on paper are layered to form the sculpture’s foundation. The surface is painted with unique handmade paints, which imbue each piece with earthiness and a connection to nature. This layering technique buries the earlier layers and selectively reveals fragments of the original prints, creating an interplay of line, color, and texture. At the same time, the partially obscured elements invite viewers to look closer and discover hidden details. Stop-motion animations are created later using some of my sculptures as the actors. These animations may appear as videos inserted or projected onto the sculpture to add movement and tell a story.
Biography
Susan Rostow (b. 1953, Brooklyn, NY) studio in Brooklyn, NY and splits her time between NYC and rural upstate New York.
Susan is a recipient of several awards, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowship and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Printmaking / Book Arts, and research residencies at the New York Academy of Medicine rare books library, and the New York Historical Society, collaborative projects with Central Booking, NY.
Since 2022, she has had two solo exhibitions at Atlantic Gallery, NYC, NY. Rostow has also participated in numerous group exhibitions throughout the United States, Europe, Peru, Korea, and Japan.
Her prints and sculptural books are in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress National Print Archives, Washington DC, the Allan Chasanoff Bookwork Collection at Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, the Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR, and the Washington State Art Collection, Olympia, WA.
In addition to being a full-time artist, Susan is an innovative inventor of printmaking methods, materials and tools. She is the creator of Akua, two lines of printmaking inks and supplies. In 2012, Speedball Art Products acquired the Akua brand, and she joined the Speedball team working as a freelance consultant.
