While Mr. Forager & I wind our way up the Pacific Coast Highway to Seattle, I’ve asked a few of my fellow art bloggers to step in and share some of their own artsy finds.
Mr. F and I are exploring San Francisco today ( so excited! ) but once we’ve made our way to Seattle, you can bet that I’ll be using the website of today’s Guest Forager to find lots of amazing Seattle artists for you! Please welcome Sarah Brooks of Artsyo!
This is Sarah coming to you from Artsyo, a local-art-finder for Seattleites. As your Guest Forager today, I’m excited to introduce you to Seattle artist Susanna Bluhm!
Susanna’s lush abstracted landscapes caught my eye at an art auction last fall, and I’ve been taken with them ever since. She works from photographs of places she’s been, sometimes combining two dissimilar landscapes into one – Croatian islands with traffic islands, for example.
They Call It Way Too Rowdy, We Call It Finally Free, oil and acrylic on canvas, 95×72
Even though the paintings are based on photographs, you can’t always tell what you’re looking at. Abstract marks play off of recognizable shapes to create the story. “I love what you can’t articulate,” says Susanna.
Tell Me, You Whom My Soul Loves, Where You Pasture Your Flock, Where You Make It Lie Down at Noon, oil and acrylic on canvas, 71×119
Susanna’s most recent series of paintings is inspired by the Bible’s controversial book Song of Songs, reimagined in the form of a love song to her wife and son.
Who Is This That Looks Forth Like the Dawn, oil and acrylic on canvas, 63×102
Susanna says that Song of Songs can be read as a relationship narrative: it begins with a frenzied crush and giddy romance, later giving way to more difficult periods of anxiety and loss.
Your Name is Perfume Poured Out, oil and acrylic on canvas, 40×40
Not everyone considers Song of Songs to be a story of two people in love: “Some Biblical scholars believe it is about God’s relationship to the Holy Land,” says Susanna. “In that case, God and the Holy Land should probably get a room.”
Your Cheeks Are Like Halves of a Pomegranate, Hidden Behind Your Veil, oil and acrylic on canvas, 83×77
I hope you enjoyed Susanna’s work, Artsy readers!
Yours truly,
Sarah & the Artsyo team
See more paintings from Susanna Bluhm on Artsyo.
All images via Artsyo.
