Susan Meyer Solo Show

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Experimental communities influence my work; they epitomize our best instincts, and our more questionable ones, colliding. Drop City, was an early (1965) commune in Trinidad, Colorado. At the trash yard, Droppers would use axes to cut out car hoods for their geodesic domes. Given a Dymaxion Award by Buckminster Fuller in ’67, Drop City was abandoned by the early ‘70s.

The architectonic, psychedelic structure of my most recent piece, “Plinth,” makes reference to Drop City’s domes. It’s also inspired by the complex stands on which Asian scholar’s rocks often sit. “Transformer,” “Noodlebowl,” and “Venus” recall the futuristic,
utopian instincts of another era. The geometric sculptures are, like “Plinth,” derived from doodle-like sketches. “Transformer” appears ready to alter or transport to another dimension the hanging form within its chamber. “Noodlebowl” displays a De Stijl palette overlaid with “Blade Runner” street food cravings. “Venus” includes a small, female figure; she sits with head in hands, a pose suggestive of worry, mulling the fate of our utopian intentions. Images of modernist conversation benches tinted in sea-glass hues
float over an open source Internet scene in “Beach/Bench.” The disused benches, found on the edge of the park in Albany, are relics of a future-forward period embraced now more for its visual than its vision. In “Beach/Bench/Blanket” collaged, scrambled images of the benches are incorporated into a wall piece inspired by the convoluted connections of the Internet, and the quilts of Gee’s Bend.

“Zeezo”, a figurative, geodesic sphere-topped stack, is named for the ‘70s era Colorado Springs clown. Solitary, disjointed, deflated, “Zeezo” rallies on.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Based in Hudson, NY, Susan Meyer has exhibited her work at venues including LabSpace, The Re Institute, The Teaching Gallery at Hudson Valley Community College, University Art Museum at University at Albany, Albany Institute, NYFA Gallery, Markel Fine Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art/Denver, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Artspace New Haven, the Islip Art Museum Carriage House, and Plus Gallery in Denver, CO. Artist residencies include Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Ucross, Sculpture Space, Pilchuck Glass School and PlatteForum in Denver. Meyer received a B.S. in Studio Art from Skidmore College and a M.F.A. from the Boston Museum School and Tufts University. She is an Associate Professor at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.