Artist Statement
I am an artist.
My work as an artist is like an additional sensory organ for me. I draft and discard ideas in my head until I have a complete statement that I want to make. Art is my language, my exchange with the environment, the way I make my ideas visible.
The materials I use for my drawings are ink and steel/drawing pens as well as brushes on handmade paper, canvas and glass. I work in series and on a project basis. I am interested in the passage of time, which I document in my blog (www.susannehaun.com), which I have been filling with words and images almost daily since March 2009.
For my large-format canvases, I use ink, acrylic paints and oil pastels. I most often present my canvases, which are up to 4 metres long and 2 metres wide, without a stretcher frame as flags painted on both sides in the room. The works of art can be placed entirely or partially on the floor.
When I read, images appear in my head that I turn into paintings. I collect smaller ink drawings in one-of-a-kind artist books. Nature inspires me: I immediately see the lines and surfaces when I look at them. I use color charts to think about the color combinations for my paintings. The contrast and the ink applied with a brush and pen to an acrylic background is one of my favorite picture elements. In my work, I am as minimalist as necessary.
I am flexible in terms of formats; my largest drawing measures 1000 x 40 cm, the smallest is just 10 x 10 cm. In exhibitions, the hanging, the exchange between the picture supports (glass, paper and canvas) and the sizes of the works are important design tools. For many artists, the creative process ends after the creation of the individual work. For me, the process continues with the compilation and presentation of the art.
For me, it is only in interaction with the audience that art begins to live and work.
