Artist Spotlight: Suki Kuss - Balancing Act

Suki Kuss, Music City II, Mixed media collage, 18.5 x 24.5"

Suki Kuss’ newest exhibition at TAG Gallery, Balancing Act, is a study of traditional craft making through a feminist lens. Kuss aims to reclaim the sovereignty of “a woman’s work”, from a patriarchal grasp while simultaneously uplifting the women that perform these tasks and the objects they create.

Suki Kuss, Girl In a Kimono VII, Mixed media collage, 24.5 x 36.5"

Kuss has an interest in materials considered traditionally female (vintage fabrics, papers, laces, etc.) and has expanded her palette to now include Asian inspired collections of ephemera. Having been given a book about Japanese kimonos by her mother, she was inspired to delve into the traditionally female task of kimono making, using her own unique collage technique.

Suki Kuss, Girl In a Kimono II, Mixed media collage, 23 x 18"

These femmage (feminine collage) pieces, though perhaps seen as craft or decorative art, have a power of their own. Here Kuss is embracing the decorative as a positive quality, fighting against what she feels is an artistic condescension that had long dismissed decorative as a trivial sign of inferior art or craft.

Suki Kuss, Resurrection I, Mixed media collage, 60.5 x 36.5"

This past year, Kuss’ beloved husband fell ill and passed away three weeks after the completing of an early “Kimono” piece. Harnessing her grief, Kuss walked a line between continuing her practice and running all aspects of their business on her own. This exhibition is a labor of love that came together in a spiral of emotion and creativity with the finished work speaking of women’s resilience and need to create.

The exhibition runs through Saturday, August 4 
Artist Panel: Saturday, July 28, 3 PM