Susan Bee makes energetic oil paintings that feature a mix of female figures in fantastical landscapes, art historical references, geometric abstraction and pictorial invention—all serving as iconic flashpoints for current social and personal struggles. Susan talks about symbolism and being inspired by romance and poetry, inserting herself into someone else’s narrative, how images can represent sound, surrendering meaning and embracing ambiguity, vulnerability during studio visits, the self as primary audience, and feeling completely absorbed by the process of making a painting.

Susan Bee, The Slap, 2012, oil on canvas, 20x24” — Susan Bee, *The Slap*, 2012, oil on canvas, 20x24”