2010 "Still"

“Susan Thomas’ painted abstractions explore the role played by relational dynamics in the way we perceive.

In these works, the sense of security, safety, familiarity and comfort that one is embraced by in a domestic setting, is referenced through combinations of soft pastel palettes with earth tones, exposed wood grain and feathery areas of paint and pencil-work, retaining a sense of humanity and nature. 

But our perception of the natural is questioned, as the visual descriptors don’t classify subject matter. Spatial arrangements of line, mass and light cause boundaries to cross into one another’s territories and as elements of tone intermingle, objects cease to be solitary entities. By flattening the picture plane, the negative space that frames what is graspable, is recognised, is brought into equal significance with the foreground.

By allowing the eye to meander in languid contemplation, we can encounter unexpected interactions within surroundings that seem fixed.  Tampering with pattern, Thomas’ work invites us to approach experience of the world with playfulness, imagination and appreciation of detail.”