Suzanne Hodes

Reflections
Recent Oil Paintings and Watercolors by Suzanne Hodes

A distinguished American Expressionist painter achieves a fine balance between direct observation and sensory experience in her work.

You are invited to Suzanne Hodes' "Reflections" at Artana from April 1-30, 2008. In her 3rd solo showing with Artana the 2008 exhibition celebrates two themes; City and Landscape. These recent paintings build upon the artists ongoing interest in her "City Reflections Series" inspired by Boston and New York, and the "River Reflections Series" relating to seasonal changes on the Charles River.

Ms. Hodes often uses optical reflections in which shifts of form and color suggest the ambiguities of perception and memory. The artist says "I am inspired by many things: by the forces of nature, by the human form, by light and how it transforms the world, by the miracle of sight, by the landscape, both natural and man-made."

In the City images the artist captures the movement and sounds of the city, with a syncopated jazz-like rhythm and intense color. In all her work, the painter achieves a fine balance between direct observation and sensory experience.

In the River images veils of texture and color are interwoven with calligraphic, energized lines that suggest leaves, branches, buds and flowers, cycles of growth and decay and renewal in Spring. Beneath the water surface one glimpses submerged forms and colors, a mysterious undergrowth. Several watercolor studies that began with ink or pencil sketches relate to the larger and richly textured canvases in oil.

Ms. Hodes works in a broad range of mediums including oil, collage, watercolor, charcoal and pastel. She has enjoyed several successful showings in NYC for 20 years and has shown with Artana since 2000. Her most recent accolade includes her work became part of the MOMA Library Collection in late 2007. As one of the most recognized and successful artists living in the Boston area, Hodes' artwork was chosen by author Judith Bookbinder to be highlighted in her newly released book "Boston Modernism: Figurative Expressionism as Alternative Modernism." This remarkable book which academically charts our region's pioneering talent in this genre is now on display and available for purchase at Artana.

The results of her artistic explorations are found in the MoMA Library Collection, De Cordova Museum, Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, the Boston Public Library, The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and Fidelity Investments. She is a former Fulbright and Bunting Fellow, a Copley Master and is listed in Who's Who in American Art.

Artana is delighted to present this accomplished Boston-area talent this Spring!

Selected Public Collections

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
De Cordova Museum, Lincoln, MA
Duxbury Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
Casali Institute, Jerusalem, Israel
Boston Public Library Print and Drawing Collection
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Radcliffe Institute, Cambridge, MA
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA
Pratt Graphic Center, New York City, NY
Fine Arts Museum, Hanoi, Vietnam ( Boston Printmakers Project)
City of Salzburg City Hall Collection, Austria
Columbia University School of Painting and Sculpture, New York City, NY
Rockefeller University, New York City, NY
Columbia University School of Engineering, New York City, NY
New England Life (painting commission), Burlington, MA
Cambridge City Hospital (through Cambridge Arts Council), Cambridge, MA
Browning-Ferris Industries, Boston, MA
Hale and Dorr, Boston, MA
Bank of America, Boston, MA
Hemenway and Barnes, Boston, MA
Cabot Corporation Headquarters, Boston, MA
Peabody Brown, Boston, MA
Temple, Barker and Sloane, Lexington, MA
Global Petroleum, Conference Room, Waltham, MA
Swanledge Corporation, Boston, MA
Brown, Rudnick, Freed and Gesmer, Boston, MA
Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston, MA
Ardis and Morse, Danvers, MA
Arley Corporation, Taunton, MA
Turner Revis Association, Boston, MA
Boston Property Equity Investment, Boston, MA
Frisoli and Associates, Cambridge, MA
Trilling House, Randolph, MA
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Corporate Offices, Boston, MA
Burlington Industries, New York City, NY
Golda Meir House Lobby, Newton, MA
David L. Babson Company, Cambridge, MA
Monitor Corporation, Boston, MA
Massachusetts Mutual Insurance Company, Springfield, MA
Ulin-Leventhal House, Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly, Brighton, MA
Milgram, Thomajan and Lee, Boston, MA
Kassler and Feuer Law Offices, Boston, MA
Gearon-Hoffman Advertising Offices, Boston, MA
Scudder, Stevens and Clark, Boston, MA
Banc One Corporate Offices, Columbus, OH
Tudor Investment Corp, Boston, MA
Pell & Rudman & Co., Boston, MA
Huntington National Bank, Sarasota, FL
Vinik Asset Management, Boston, MA
Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Four Seasons Hotel, Prague, the Czech Republic
Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale & Dorr, Boston MA
Esec Lending Co., Federal Street, Boston
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (Commission)
Wempe Jewelers, Fifth Avenue & 55th St. NYC
Health Care Ventures, Cambridge, MA
FHO-Fallon, Hines & O'Connor, Boston
Old Mutual, Boston, MA
WolfBlock, Boston, MA
MOMA Library Collection

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Growing up in New York City I attended the High School of Music and Art and went often to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to learn from Cezanne. As a student at Radcliffe, I met and was encouraged by Agnes Mongan, then Curator of Drawings at the Fogg Museum, and through her support studied for two summers at the Skowhegan School in Maine. This intense experience led me to transfer to Brandeis and to major in studio art, taking courses with Arthur Polonsky and Mitchell Siporin. A summer studying with Oskar Kokoschka at his "School of Vision" in Salzburg was a major influence. Later I found work in New York, teaching science at the Fashion Institute of Technology and as a studio assistant at the Pratt Graphic Center.

As a graduate student at Columbia University, I worked with my advisor Meyer Schapiro, on my thesis "The Comparison of Form and Structure in the Paintings of Vermeer and Mondrian," relating the tightly composed realistic space of Vermeer to the syncopated rhythms and abstract structure of Mondrian. I was very much inspired by the power and energy of the New York Abstract Expressionist artists.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT

Suzanne's paintings are the result of a thoughtful, yet always spirited, mind and hand at work. Her unmistakable brush work and gestures are filled with enthusiasm and life. A seemingly perfect squiggle here and there conveys her sense of excitement, confidence and affection toward her work. She is the only painter I've represented who works brilliantly in all sizes and in many fine art mediums, including oil, watercolor, pastel, monotypes and drypoint. Suzanne's highly developed artistic vision is evident in her paintings: Reflected and refracted light, rhythmic compositions, and her signature palette of blues and purples with always a dab of cadmium orange for the high notes! As if to say, "I've been here".
—Heather Roy, Founder/Gallery Director

Please note: Other significant paintings are available for purchase even though they are not part of the slide show. Please contact Artana for availability and prices.