Susan Weinthaler
Artist Statement:

I see it as the artist’s responsibility to recognize truths. One truth I have been exploring in my recent work is how complex structures are built by applying simple rules.

The DOT drawings are such a system. Being an urban dweller unable to regularly gaze upon the stars because of light pollution, I felt unable to properly place myself in the grand scheme of the universe, which is something I find essential to my sanity. So, I began to create my own sky,examining the universe point by point. But through the process of making these drawings, I saw similar systems everywhere I looked. My daily reflections referenced not only the cosmos, but also the city at night, aerial maps, skywriting, fireworks, video games, LED signs, clover fields, cellular structure, cancerous growths, tears, snow, etc. Although this body of work started as a reaction to the world above it quickly became about the world we live in.

BITS examine how we store visual information. Initially inspired by spreadsheets, I created thousands of miniature paintings on small blocks as a databank of sorts, wanting to apply the system’s basic attributes to painting. By doing so, it has taken on a life of its own, able to morph and grow over time, infinite in its variation and growth. It is both sculpture and painting, a hybrid system. After all, the whole is only the sum of its parts.

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