Susan Vecsey

Info Works

Statement/Biography


SUSAN VECSEY (b. 1971)

Susan Vecsey was born in New Jersey and currently lives and works in both New York City and East Hampton, New York.  She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College, Columbia University, New York and her Master of Fine Arts from the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, studying under Graham Nickson. In 2012, Vecsey was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome. 

Vecsey had a solo museum exhibition at the Greenville County Museum, South Carolina, in 2017 that was accompanied by an exhibition catalogue with an essay by Phyllis Tuchman. “Unlike, say, Fairfield Porter, another East End artist, Vecsey is less involved with the here and now. She’s not recording the details of daily life. She’s reminding you of places where you have been. With swooping curves, extended horizon lines, and a mix of tonal colors, Vecsey’s compelling images have the character of memories, recollections, reveries. You’re revisiting sites of pleasure and wonderment.”

In 2017, The John Jermain Memorial Library, the Public Library of Sag Harbor, presented an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Susan Vecsey.  Evoking memories of her home near Cedar Point, Vecsey’s abstract paintings recall memories of the landscapes and seascapes of her surroundings.

A painter interested in creating lyrical and poetic themes, Susan Vecsey uses iconic imagery derived from nature.  In a recent review, Gabrielle Selz writes, “Inspired by painters like Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Mark Rothko, Milton Avery and Helen Frankenthaler—all of whom explored the variance of tonality on limited compositional formats—Vecsey creates work that is filled with ideas about arrangement, lyrical color, perspective, repetition and surface.” 

References to representational imagery are a starting point, a vehicle to convey a certain emotion and to explore color, form, and shape.  Vecsey states, “There is a great pleasure in the whole process of creating from the anticipation, the processing to the realization.”  Vecsey’s oil-stained linen and paper works carry on the color field and minimalist traditions in a contemporary context.  She begins with charcoal studies in which she draws her perceptive ideas on paper and then creates elaborate color studies.  Afterwards Vecsey thins oil paint and pours it directly on to primed linen or paper allowing it to flow naturally with some guidance from the artist.  Vecsey says, “With poured paint, timing is everything, and it is important to be decisive with it, and also ready to accept or reject the unexpected.”

Susan Vecsey recently has been creating more dramatic abstract compositions, using bolder geometric shapes, while keeping her quintessential soft edges and areas of raw linen exposed.  Many of these new works are large-scale.  In reference to Vecsey’s 2014 show at Berry Campbell Gallery, New York, a review in Artcritical reads: “this is virtuoso painting.”  

Susan Vecsey’s work was featured in Guild Hall Museum’s 2014 Selections from the Permanent Collection curated by Christina Strassfield, alongside Balcomb Greene, Chuck Close, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, and Mary Heilmann. Mabley Handler Design, Bridgehampton, incorporated Vecsey’s paintings in the 2014 Hamptons Holiday House.  In recent years, the distinguished design dealers, Lee Jofa and Brunschwig & Fils, have used several of her paintings in advertising campaigns.  Vecsey has been featured in magazines such as Architectural Digest, Hamptons Magazine and Veranda. 

Susan Vecsey’s paintings are widely held in public and private collections around the world.  Vecsey is represented by Berry Campbell Gallery in New York.


© Berry Campbell

CV

Born 1971, Somerville, New Jersey
Lives and works in New York City and East Hampton, New York 

EDUCATION
MFA, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture
Study with Graham Nickson.
BA, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York
Continuing Study, Museum of Modern Art, The New School, International Center of Photography, New York

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Berry Campbell, New York, 2020.
Quogue Gallery, New York, Susan Vecsey, 2019.
Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, Susan Vecsey | New Paintings, 2019.
Berry Campbell, New York, 2018.
Greenville County Museum, South Carolina, 2017.
John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, New York, 2017.
Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 2017.
Berry Campbell, New York, Recent Paintings, 2016.
Berry Campbell, New York, Recent Paintings, 2014.
Quogue Gallery, New York, Recent Paintings, 2014.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Recent Paintings, 2010.               
Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, New York, Light of Spring, 2009.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, New Paintings, 2008. 


SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, Community, 2022. (Organized by Berry Campbell)
The Painting Center, New York, Break of Day, Edge of Night, 2022.
Guild Hall, East Hampton, New York, 83rd Artist Members Exhibition, 2021.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, Continuum, 2020. (organized by Berry Campbell)
Guild Hall, East Hampton, New York, 82nd Artist Members Exhibition, 2020.
Berry Campbell, New York, Artist Insights/ Contemporary Highlights, 2020.
Drive-by-Art, Public Art in the Moment of Social Distancing, 2020, Long Island, New York (organized by Warren Neidich)
Nassau County Museum of Art, blue., 2020.
Berry Campbell, New York, Summer Selections, 2019.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2018.
Art Wynwood, Berry Campbell, 2018.
Palm Beach Modern and Contemporary, Berry Campbell, 2018.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2018.
Art Miami, Berry Campbell, 2017.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2017.
Palm Beach Modern and Contemporary, Berry Campbell, 2017.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2017.
Art Miami, Berry Campbell, 2016.
Berry Campbell, Something (curated by Noah Becker), 2016.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2016.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2016.
Art Southampton, Art Fair, Berry Campbell Gallery, 2015, 2016.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2015.
Art Wynwood, Berry Campbell, 2015.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2015.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, New Additions to the Permanent Collection, 2010-2014, 2014.
Art Wynwood, Berry Campbell, 2014.
Art Silicon Valley | San Francisco, Berry Campbell, 2014.
Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 2014.
Berry Campbell, Year in Review, New York, 2014.
Miami Project, Berry Campbell, 2014.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 75th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2014.
Spanierman Modern, New York, Modern Selections, 2013.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, First Impressions: Printmaking with Solarplates, 2013.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, Landscape Selections from the Permanent Collection, 2013.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Summer Selections, 2013.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 75th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2013.
Spanierman Modern, New York, Dripping! Pouring! Staining!, 2013.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Landscapes: 1880s to the Present, 2013.
Spanierman Modern, New York, Thirteen Contemporary Artists, 2013.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Summer Selections, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Modern and Contemporary Paintings, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Artists of the East End: Past & Present, 2012.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 74th Annual Guild Hall Artist Member, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Contemporary Artists, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Artists of the East End, Part 2, 2011.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, 44th Annual Artists of the Springs Invitational, 2011.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Fifteen Modern and Contemporary Artists, 2011.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, 73rd Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2011.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, In the Tonalist Mood: Paintings from 1860 to the Present, 2011. 
Spanierman Modern, New York, Gallery Selections, 2009.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2009.
Water Mill Museum, New York, 16th Annual Members Exhibition, 2008.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, East End Photographers Group: 20th Anniversary Exhibition, 2008.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, 70th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2008.
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Columbia Impact 16th Annual Spring Benefit Auction, 2008.
Sylvester & Co. and Amagansett Applied Arts, New York, Second Annual Group Exhibition, 2007.
Sylvester & Co., Amagansett, New York, Water Show, 2007.
Sylvester & Co., Amagansett, New York, Landscape Show, 2007.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 69th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2007.
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Columbia Impact 15th Annual Spring Benefit Auction, 2007.
Sylvester & Co. and Amagansett Applied Arts, New York, First Annual Group Exhibition, 2006.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York
Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York
Grand Hyatt, Presidential Suite, New York

HONORS
American Academy in Rome, Visiting Artist, Italy, 2012
Marika Herskovic Annual Artist Seminar, invitation to present recent work, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, 2012