Valerie Suter

Mason Gross School of the Arts

Artwork title: Clementine Hunter
oil and acrylic on canvas | 48 x 36 inches

Tell us about the work that you have submitted.
I made this painting after encountering the work of Clementine Hunter while visiting New Orleans. I was responding to and exploring a connection I felt to the artist through her work and thinking about how a portrait could be used to critique the conventions of portraiture within an art historical context.

How do you describe your work and practice?
I explore and seek to bring to life subjects that have been historically underrepresented in visual culture. Mining wide-ranging histories and drawing from portraiture, iconography, literature, WPA-era murals and other sources, I make paintings as a way to interrogate conventions and the status quo and to shine a light on under-represented subjects.

What motivated you to apply to the AXA Art Prize?
I was excited about the opportunity for my work to be seen by the distinguished jurors and potentially by a national audience. I was particularly excited about the potential for this painting to be seen by a broader audience so that many more people might know and appreciate Clementine Hunter and her work.

What themes regularly resurface?
My interest in making the invisible visible continually emerges thematically in my paintings, as they call attention to unseen or under-recognized people and the gravity of their stories. In all of my work, I try to get inside my subjects, to probe their inner lives and amplify their voices, and ultimately offer a connection with that elusive, invisible thing that some might call a soul.

www.valeriesuter.com
Instagram | @valeriesuter