Solo exhibition of new paintings by Susan Metrican

Exhibition Dates:

July 22 - September 2, 2022

Opening Reception:

Friday, July 22, 2022 from 5:00-9:00pm / Opening Reception

Friday, August 5, 2022 from 5:00-9:00pm / August Allentown First Friday

Artist Talk:

Saturday, July 23, 2022 at 11:00am-12:30pm

Rivalry Projects is delighted to present Susan Metrican: Married to the Ground, an exhibition of new works by the artist. This exhibition will be on view at Rivalry from July 22-September 2, 2022 with an opening reception on Friday, July 22, 2022 from 5:00-9:00pm. Metrican will be present for the opening reception and will then give an artist talk on Saturday, July 23, 2022 from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM. 

Susan Metrican speaks about her practice as “... [being] drawn to images and objects that resonate across seemingly disparate cultures and time periods. As a Thai American raised mostly in the midwest, 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 artwork 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. Within this context, the work attempts to engage with traditions of making and exchange through the construction of animal and nature motif paintings that have the appearance of being “well-worn” or “inherited.” 

Married to the Ground continues the artist’s exploration of painting in the expanded field with works that deftly teeter between two and three-dimensions. Referencing flora and fauna themed textiles, Metrican assigns the same utility to her painted canvas by cutting, sewing and forming it into imagery. The title plays on the notion of figure/ground in painting and perception, or the acknowledgement of an object and the space it occupies. Married to the Ground is also how Frank Lloyd Wright referred to Prairie Style architecture, with its integrated relationship to the midwest landscape.

This exhibition is dedicated to the artist’s mother, who passed away in Spring 2022.

WORKS

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Susan Metrican is an artist living and working in Fairfield, Iowa via Boston, 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 has an artist edition with Drawer NYC (NY), and has been featured in ART MAZE Mag. She is one of four founding members of kijidome, an experimental project space and collaborative in Boston, MA (2013-2017). She was the Curator at the Kniznick Gallery at Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) from 2014-2022.