SUSAN METRICAN
Bio
Susan Metrican is an artist living and working between Fairfield, IA and Boston via NYC, Toronto, and Bangkok. Metrican received an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, her BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2014.
Metrican’s work has been included in solo and group exhibitions nationally; Rivalry Projects (NY), Tracey Morgan Gallery (NC), Maharishi University (IA), SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2017 (NY), Able Baker Contemporary (ME), GRIN Contemporary (RI), Proof Gallery (MA), Boston Center for the Arts (MA), Field Projects (NY), Knockdown Center (NY), and Gallery Protocol (FL). Metrican also has artist editions with Drawer NYC (NY), and has been featured in ART MAZE Mag.
Metrican is one of four founding members of kijidome, an experimental project space and collaborative in Boston, MA (2013-2017); She has been the Curator at the Kniznick Gallery at Brandeis University since 2014.
Artist Statement
As a Thai American raised mostly in the Midwest, I’m drawn to images and objects that resonate across disparate cultures and time periods. I am interested in imagery that is “culturally familiar” through its connection to folktales and shared traditions, particularly imagery that evokes a reverence for rural life.
The work acknowledges motifs that have been translated across multiple formats; textiles, costumes, theater, architecture, and small useful objects which allow the symbols, characters and stories to connect and continue “traveling” through time and space. I consider the movement of interpreted ideas onto various forms throughout history, and their shape-shifting reanimation as they introduce new modes of being. Within this context, my work attempts to engage with these traditions through the construction of animal and nature motif paintings with a pronounced object-ness.
Susan Metrican, Kittens Are Like That, 2020,
Acrylic on canvas and thread, 42x34 in., Collection of the artist
