Susanna Bluhm

These paintings are based on trips I took to Kentucky (2018) and Oklahoma (2019). They are part of my Red Country project.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

These paintings are based on a trip I took to Texas in February 2020. They are a part of my Red Country project.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

These paintings are based on trips I took to Georgia and Montana. They are a part of my Red Country project.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

These paintings are based on trips I took in 2019 to Wisconsin and Iowa with my wife and son, and to Michigan for a residency. They are a part of my Red Country project.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

The White River from Mt. Rainier to Puget Sound is a four-part painting project installed at Meta’s Bellevue campus. The paintings are based on experiences I had along the White River, which begins in an ice cave of the Emmons glacier at Mt. Rainier, and empties into Puget Sound in Tacoma after merging with the Puyallup River. The installation is made up of four paintings on four floors; the painting on the fourth floor represents the source of the river, and the painting on the first floor is the end of the river.

These are the paintings I did in preparation for these giant paintings.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

These paintings are based on trips I took to Florida with my wife and son in 2017 and 2018. They are a part of my Red Country project.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

These paintings are based on a trip I took to Kansas and Nebraska in an RV with my wife and son in spring of 2019. They are a part of my Red Country project.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

These paintings are part six of my Red Country project. They’re based on a trip I took to Missouri in March, 2019.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

A “o” after the title means the painting is available; please contact J. Rinehart gallery with inquiries at judith@jrinehartgallery.com

These paintings are part five of my Red Country project. They’re based on a trip I took to Tennessee in October, 2018.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

These paintings are part five of my Red Country project. They’re based on a trip I took to Idaho in January, 2019.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

These paintings are part four of my Red Country project. They’re based on a trip I took to North Carolina in July 2017.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

These paintings are part three of my Red Country project. They're based on a trip I took to Louisiana in February 2017.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

These paintings are the second part of my Red Country project. They're based on a trip I took to Arizona in May 2017.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

These paintings are the first part of my Red Country project. They're based on a trip I took to Mississippi in February 2017.

Parenthetic titles are borrowed from the chapter titles of Moby-Dick.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

These paintings are based on photos I took in New York in March last year. It snowed a lot, and after their long winter the New Yorkers were not excited about the snow, but I was. Snow, and weather, can be a story about sensory experience, cultural expectations, nostalgia, and disappointment. I like to think about the story of the weather referenced in the painting and also of the weather in the painting itself. The snow in the painting can also just be paint, or even frosting one might one to lick. The paintings also feature Suzanne Valadon's lap, Black Cindy (who converted to Judaism the same time I did), my Grandma (Lupe, who was Catholic), and a few Hebrew letters.

Link to catalogue with essay by Maria Porges

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

In the Summer of 2015, my uncle mowed a spiral in his field in rural Washington and married his husband in the center of it, surrounded by loved ones with a lot of balloons and some Brazilian drummers. Just a few weeks before, my wife's and my eleven-year-old Canadian marriage license was recognized as legal and valid in our own country when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality across all fifty states.

These paintings are a celebration of love, life and justice. 

As semi-abstract landscape paintings they are anchored in a physical environment, while also suggesting a new “painting” environment. Their specific landscape is Acme, Washington, a rural town two hours northeast of Seattle. On the day of my uncle’s wedding, this rural American landscape was claimed as a meaningful part of the day. 

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

These paintings are based on my experience of Yosemite National Park in California—as a child on our annual road trips from Los Angeles, and as an adult in 2013 with my wife and son.

Anchored by landscape, the paintings take stock of the imagery—with its inherent meanings—of Yosemite, including the imagery my family brought with us, and what we found there in the 1980s, as well as what we brought and found there in this decade.

Remnants of Yosemite’s original inhabitants, as conjured in tourist devices and decorative patterns, huddle next to clumps of sienna corduroy. Fake feathers peek out from granite rocks. The gray, checkered pattern of my son’s jacket from Costco emerges from a trail with wildflowers. A fake teepee rests in the forest behind a meadow of lupine flowers. Ghosts with vibrating bunny ears (vulnerable) and open eyes (wise) peer out at me from the forest.

The final paintings in the series feature pretend snow. 

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

I made this small body of works on paper for a group show that was a collaboration between Vignettes and APRIL (Authors, Publishers and Readers of Independent Literature). The artists in the show made work inspired by a book of poetry by Wendy Xu called You Are Not Dead.

These paintings are based on my experience of Yosemite National Park in California—as a child on our annual road trips from Los Angeles, and as an adult in 2013 with my wife and son.

Anchored by landscape, the paintings take stock of the imagery—with its inherent meanings—of Yosemite, including the imagery my family brought with us, and what we found there in the 1980s, as well as what we brought and found there in this decade.

Remnants of Yosemite’s original inhabitants, as conjured in tourist devices and decorative patterns, huddle next to clumps of sienna corduroy. Fake feathers peek out from granite rocks. The gray, checkered pattern of my son’s jacket from Costco emerges from a trail with wildflowers. A fake teepee rests in the forest behind a meadow of lupine flowers. Ghosts with vibrating bunny ears (vulnerable) and open eyes (wise) peer out at me from the forest.

 “o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

This series of 13 works on paper was a project I did for Violet Strays. Every day for thirteen days in September 2013, a new piece was added to the Violet Strays site for this brief, temporary exhibition in the interweb-space. 

This work was inspired by and dedicated to my friend Aubrey Bean, who died that Summer after a long battle with cancer. 

All of the pieces are gouache, pencil, ink, and acrylic on paper, approximately 11 x 15 inches. Words are from the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

You can learn more about Violet Strays here.

Inspired by the love poem the Song of Songs from the Bible, I made my own Song of Songs in the form of 33 paintings and 15 works on paper. The project is my love song to my wife and son, and tells our story in an abstract and queer way.

The titles of the paintings are from the poem.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

Song of Songs Part 1

Song of Songs Part 2

Inspired by the love poem the Song of Songs from the Bible, I made my own Song of Songs in the form of 33 paintings and 15 works on paper. The project is my love song to my wife and son, and tells our story in an abstract and queer way.

The titles of the paintings are from the poem.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

Song of Songs Part 1

Song of Songs Part 3

I based these paintings on photos I took in Croatia in 2005 as well as photos I took of traffic islands in my neighborhood in Seattle. The rocky, verdant islands of Croatia are Mediterranean oases. Contrastingly, the traffic islands I walk my baby-in-stroller and dog around daily are unruly with blackberry brambles and yellow caution diamonds. Or, rarely, they’ve been spruced up by someone in the neighborhood. Either way, they've got a job to do.

I listened to the Le Tigre album This Island non-stop while I painted these. I lovingly borrowed lyrics for the titles. I see both the album and the paintings as being about language and accessibility in art making and queerness. I think about how my paintings and This Island are communicating similar things, but I think the album is better at doing it. Is it even possible for painting and music to communicate the same thing? In their lyrics, Le Tigre gives occasional nods to the inadequacy of painting: "I'll be in the front row later, when your brush becomes a mic, maybe." In the end I think I'm ok with the disparity because thankfully I can listen to music while I paint. Though it does feel natural for me to pay tribute to the efficacy of music to say what my paintings only hint at. 

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

Inspired by the love poem the Song of Songs from the Bible, I made my own Song of Songs in the form of 33 paintings and 15 works on paper. The project is my love song to my wife and son, and tells our story in an abstract and queer way.

The titles of the paintings are from the poem.

“o” = painting is available; contact me with inquiries!

Song of Songs Part 2

Song of Songs Part 3