October 12, 2012
Susan Graham
residency at Lux has
memorable outcome
Written by James
Chute,
San Diego
Union-Tribune
U-T
San Diego
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/oct/08/Lux-Art-Institute-Susan-Graham/
New York-based
artist Susan Graham
completed her residency at
the Lux Art Institute on
Saturday. In addition to a
dozen works on display,
she’s leaving behind an
elegant, exquisite “Toile
Landscape Wallpaper” that
she created at Lux. Her
work, including her
undeniably fascinating “My
Dad’s Gun Collection,”
will be on view at Lux
through Oct. 27.
“It’s gone very
well,” said Graham on
Saturday. “There was so
much more contact with the
public than I thought
there would be. I had to
do a lot of talking.
“But hearing
myself talk gave me some
ideas.”
Several of
Graham’s previous “Toile
Landscapes” are on
display, but in her most
recent work it’s as if the
piece is growing out of
the wall rather than
merely adorning it.
“It’s gotten
much more organic,” said
Graham. “I’d like to go
even further, but I’m
leaving tomorrow.”
The installation
employs a crosshatch
pattern that Graham says
was inspired by the
wallpaper in the bedroom
where she grew up in
Dayton, Ohio. Some of the
elements are made of sugar
and others out of glazed
porcelain.
There are
replications of native
plants, which Graham
encountered while staying
at Lux, and there are tiny
cellphone towers, radar
installations, and the
like, which are also
common in, but not
necessarily native to,
Southern California.
An accomplished
photographer, Graham has
documented the temporary
piece. It will be
dismantled at the end of
October. The porcelain
elements will be returned
to Graham, who may use
them in other projects,
and the sugar elements
will be given to members
of Lux’s staff, who have
become attached to the
work.
Graham, however,
is accepting of the work’s
eventual demise. For her,
part of the attraction of
working with sugar is its
fragile, temporary nature.
“It’s about the
process rather than some
final product,” she said.
Still, she had
to admit: “I’m really
happy with the way it
turned out.”
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