Suzanna Vangelov Arroyo, 2021

My work exists in the expanded field of painting, influenced by abstraction and minimalism. Space, negative space, light and surface are my main focus. Bringing together matter and physicality by cutting, folding and stitching directly into the surface of my painting. Exploring tone, light and shadow in a subtle limited palette. An uncomplicated reductive form that is inwardly focused. Using traditional ingredients in an unconventional format. Exploration and experimentation and willingness to fail. Following the urgency and energy, and practising not knowing.

The outside world deeply enters my work.

I live and create on Awabakal country on the mid north coast of New South Wales.

My forest studio is filled with dappled light from the canopy of Grey Gums overhead, and alive with the calls of the resident Kookaburras and Magpies … and Nick Cave of course!

My work is based on a fascination of space and connectedness. As a practising yogi, I am deeply influenced by Eastern philosophy and teachings. Inspired by a textual resonance that can stimulate a physical experience beyond the visual field, the labor of human touch is evidenced in my stained, cut and torn paintings.  I fuse sculptural elements with the language of painting in the unframed work,  to include and become the wall and challenge assumptions of negative space as inactive territory, in my abstract compositions.

My creative/studio practise is a daily ritual. I use the same principle as I do with my meditation/yoga practise…to simply turn up, without judgement and stay with it, regardless of outcome. I don’t plan.. I set up conditions and cultivate the creative connection and endeavour to stay in the moment. Harnessing instincts and impulses to construct a more visceral language and engage the unexpected, in alternate forms of knowledge and awareness.