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Artist Statement for Susan Knaap
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Susan Knaap is of Dutch descent, and lives in New Zealand. She is, by and large, a self-taught artist. Encouraged to paint as a child, she began selling her work in her late teens. However, a strong focus on career pulled her away from art for many years until she began painting once again in the late 1990's. Her painting style since then has run the gamut - from highly detailed realism through to impressionism and expressionism. Her style now moves comfortably between abstraction and semi-abstraction; her inspiration being drawn from multiple sources:
“At face value, my paintings could be said to be inspired by nature and it is true that at one level, they are. There’s no denying the pull I have towards the natural environment and, in particular, patterns and textures within it. Yet, for me, landscapes are merely the vehicle through which I convey broader and more meaningful concepts; it could just as easily be, and has been in the past, still-lifes or portraits.
My real interest relates to the themes that underlie the mundane fabric of life – concepts of time and timelessness, concealment and revelation, divine and human connection, mystery and transformation. Added to this is an ongoing engagement with the often clichéd notion of ‘heaven and earth’. For me, this term operates at multiple levels – order and chaos, mind and body, spirituality and physicality. The relevance of this theme to my art (as well as my life), seems to be about its duality and the call for balance.”
Susan’s paintings are lush, multi-layered works that reflect the complexity of her chosen themes. Susan’s working style is both planned and intuitive – she starts with an idea in mind but allows the process of painting itself to dictate its direction.
In 2004, Susan was a finalist in the International Juried Online Symbolist Art Show and in late 2005 represented New Zealand at the Florence Biennale (Italy). She is a member of the NZ Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington and her artworks are in private collections within New Zealand and around the world. Susan is a member of, and regular exhibitor with, the NZ Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington. Her paintings are in private collections within New Zealand and around the world.
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