Professor Susanna Coffey in Solo Exhibit Opening this Month

By
Audrey Deng
November 19, 2019

Professor Susanna Coffey will have a solo exhibit opening November 20, 2019 at the Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects in New York. Coffey is a visual artist who most recently had a solo exhibit in Boston, at the Alpha Gallery, and has shown work internationally.

Her show in New York, In Her Studio, is a display of artists Coffey admires at work in their studios. Coffey states, “The paintings are visits into the worlds creative artists inhabit. A way to be with these accomplished artists, to sit in a corner and work alongside them.” Subjects include Joan Goldin, Judith Raphael, Jason Mandella, Alex Bailey, Heidi Howard, Jessica Hargreave, Marthe Keller, Joan Waltemath, Alexio, Daphne Arthur, Kyle Staver and others, in addition to several self-portraits.

In a comment to the university, Lauren Fowler of the Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects said, “The title, In Her Studio, has a double meaning. It is Susanna herself, working in her own studio, and also the subjects she is portraying, who are mostly women. The idea for these paintings came to Susanna in March of 2015. She went to see In the Studio: Paintings, at the Gagosian Gallery. Having such a strong attachment to the workplace, she was completely transfixed by the works. However, she noticed in a show of fifty works, only five or so were paintings of women. She thought of the brilliant and dedicated women artists in her life, and decided to start asking them if she could come by and paint them while they worked and went about their studio routines.”

In Coffey’s self-portraits, images from art history are projected in her studio, enveloping the artist as she portrays herself in the act of painting. Coffey states, “There are certain artists whose works live within me, inspire my efforts. I could not make my own paintings without theirs to sustain and inform me. El Greco, Bob Thompson, Tintoretto, they are always alongside me as I work. While I have often copied their paintings, in this show I just wanted, literally, to be covered by them.”

The exhibition is accompanied by a book signing event with Susanna Coffey and artist and publisher of MAB books, Brice Brown, on November 23 at 4pm. Steven Harvey Fine Art Projects will also host a discussion with the artist December 14 at 4:00 pm. The show opens on November 20 and will run until December 24.