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Sue Scott Gallery is pleased to announce Put Me in the Zoo, a solo exhibition of new
paintings by Suzanne McClelland.
Throughout her career, McClelland has used words as her medium, transmitting the
emotional valence of language through painterly gesture and abstract form. Exclamations,
hackneyed expressions, words and sounds uttered in passion or humor—the translation of
linguistic into visual forms has been her lifelong project.
In this exhibition, McClelland turns to two sources as inspiration in shaping an optimistic
account of the liberating potential of art—and of color, in particular. One is the children’s
book Put Me in the Zoo, by Robert Lopshire (1960). The story concerns a spotted animal of
indeterminate species who desperately longs to be in the zoo. Performing a series of poses,
the creature demonstrates not only his amusing acrobatic skills but also the curious
propensity to change the color of his spots, which morph from primaries to secondaries as
if prompted from within. Eventually he realizes his skills are best accommodated in the
circus.
The other source for McClelland’s recent work has a biographical basis. As a child, she
lived in a rural area of the U.S. where the humorist, clown and political satirist Dan Rice
(1823-1900)—one of the models for “Uncle Sam” and wildly popular at the time—
wintered his circus. Creator of DAN RICE’S GREATEST SHOW in 1855, he had as one
of his slogans, “Make circus not war.” Inspired by a vintage photograph of Rice in
costume, McClelland took his slogan to heart and executed a series of paintings in which a
bright, fresh, modulating palette—not unlike the creature’s spots—seems the embodiment
of a spirit of play that is the artist’s alternative to the darker realities of our times.
McClelland’s work is in the collections of many major institutions, including the Museum
of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Fisher Landau Center for Art,
the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, the Orlando Museum of Art, the
Miami Art Museum, the Henry Art Gallery and the Martin Z. Margulies Collection. In
2006, Elizabeth Murray selected McClelland for the AXA Artist Award. That same year,
she received the Nancy Graves Grant for Visual Arts. In 2008, Hard Press Editions and
One Eye Pug published rock and shift, a book on the artist’s recent work.
McClelland lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. This is her first exhibition with Sue
Scott Gallery.
For additional information please contact Rebecca Mirsky at Sue Scott Gallery by calling
212-358-8767, faxing 212-358-8785 or emailing info@suescottgallery.com.
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 6pm
Sue Scott Gallery will also be participating in the Lower East Side Gallery tours on March
8th, 2009. Sponsored by the New Museum and The Armory Show, tours will begin from
the New Museum lobby at 12:30, 2, and 4pm.
Reviews:
http://www.suescottgallery.com/2009/03/putmeinthezoo/reviews/kstraub_vogue.html
http://www.suescottgallery.com/2009/03/putmeinthezoo/reviews/timeoutny.html
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