Susi Brister

Fables
Thu Nov 13, 2014 - Thu Jan 15, 2015

In lushly colored photographs, Susi Brister depicts anonymous figures covered in densely textured and patterned textiles inserted in to landscapes as mysterious organic forms. Her Fables suggest magical narratives where creatures emerge from their habitats and strange figures mimic the landscape playing with notions of natural v.s. artificial. Challenging traditional renderings of the figure, Brister questions the nature of sculpture, performance, and portraiture. Both humorous and melancholy, these images emphasize the gap be tween the natural world and its synthetic imitations.

Susi Brister’s photographs are full of whimsy and camouflage. Using a combination of natural settings and staging, Brister combines the synthetic with the pastoral. She creates magical moments where creatures emerge from their habitats. Occasionally cozy polyesters touch darker topics like in, “Hi-Lo Rabbit on Country Road.” Careful composition, intrigue, use of multiple patterns, and a fine sense of texture permeate Brister’s work.

Brister States:

“My current photographic work depicts anonymous figures covered in densely textured or patterned textiles inserted into various landscapes as mysterious organic forms. Lush faux fur and vivid fabrics conceal the still figures, producing a bizarre visual and contextual relationship between the shrouded form and its environment and at times creating a landscape-within-landscape effect. Acrylic neon crystals, camouflaging textiles, twisted piles of brightly colored tape, and layers upon layers of artificial hair extensions shroud forms that integrate with or interrupt the natural environment in a seeming attempt to blend in, but which ultimately emphasize the gap between the natural world and its synthetic imitations.”

Throughout this work I am questioning the nature of sculpture, performance, and portraiture, playing with notions of natural vs. artificial, and challenging traditional photographic renderings of the figure in the landscape.  At once both humorous and melancholy, these images resonate with a psychological tension, evoking notions of the sublime and the slippage between real and imaginary