Susan Schwalb

1944 New York City, Susan Schwalb is one of the leading figures in the revival of the ancient technique of metalpoint drawing. She has developed a style which challenges all the traditional concepts. Relatively intimate in scale, these works juxtapose a variety of metals - gold, brass, copper, platinum, pewter, bronze, aluminum and silver - to create soft shifts of tone and color. The shimmer of light on the surface is quite unlike any of the usual effects of metalpoint. Sky, clouds, wind, hail, flood, sunlight, reflection: most of the paintings in this series have a landscape reference. I first began thinking about the horizon line and its implications when I was included in the exhibition At the Edge: The Horizon Line in Contemporary Art curated by Donna Harkavy and Margaret Mathew Berenson at Dorsky Gallery in 2001. Conversations with these curators helped me to understand that any horizontal line that divides a canvas is immediately read as a horizon. In fact, I remembered that whenever I drew in my sketchbook at the Cape or at other beaches I instinctively began with a simple line navigating the page. My last body of paintings was conceived around memories of various kinds of light. In this new work the allusion to landsca...

Education BFA Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PAHigh School of Music and Art, New York,

Group shows
January 7- February 26, 2011
Wexler Gallery, 201 N 3rd St, Philadelphia, PA 19106-1901 (215) 923-7030
“Divergent Affinities” Jaq Belcher, Marietta Hoferer, Gudrun Mertes Frady, Susan Schwalb, Karen Margolis, Michael Kukla, Ilene Sunshine and Vivian Rombaldi Seppy
Reception: Friday, Jan. 7, 5-8pm
http://www.wexlergallery.com/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/

Solo show
January 25-March 12, 2011
Galerie Mourlot, 16 East 79 St, NYC “A Gathering Quiet: Recent Metalpoint Paintings and Drawings”
Reception: Thursday, Jan. 27 6-9pm
http://www.galeriemourlot.com/home.html