Suzy Spence

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Susan Deborah Spence (born 1969 ) is an American painter identified with contemporary figurative painting and feminist art in New York City.

Early life and education

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Spence was born in Boston Massachusetts. Her parents, Albert William Spence III and Marcia Boyd Stremlau relocated from the upper east side of New York City to Belfast Maine during the back-to-the-land-movement in the 1970s. Spence grew up in Belfast and Bar Harbor and credits regional figurative painters Alex Katz and Andrew Wyeth as early influences.

Education

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Spence attended Smith College before transferring to Parsons School of Design in New York to receive a BFA in Studio Art in 1992. She studied with Rona Pondick, Maureen Connor Judy Glantzman and Mira Schor. Spence attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine in the summer of 1996 with fellow students William Pope L. and Jennie Jones. Visiting faculty that year were Jessica Stockholder, Carroll Dunham, Nan Goldin and Jacob Lawrence. Spence received an MFA from School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1998.

Soho in the 1990s

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Spence worked in the curatorial department at New Museum (1992-1994) in Soho under founder Marcia Tucker as a curatorial assistant. Spence exhibited at Colin de Land 's American Fine Arts Co. at 22 Wooster Street (1997 - 1999).

Early Exhibitions

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Spence had her first solo exhibition at Colin de Land's American Fine Arts Co. in Soho in 1998; the exhibition Visions of Grandeur was reviewed in The New York Times by critic Grace Glueck. Spence was included in the U.K. curated museum exhibition Accelerator alongside artists Jeremy Deller and Bernadette Corporation in 1999. Accelerator traveled to The Arnolfini, Southampton City Art Gallery, and Gallery Oldham.

Recent Works

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In 2019 Spence created two twelve foot painted portraits of equestrian clad women in black tophats and stock ties, titled Widow XII and Widow XIII for her solo exhibition Death Rider at Brooklyn’s Cathouse Proper located at 524 Court Street Brooklyn. Spence’s Monumental Widows were exhibited again during the summer of 2024 at The Bundy Modern, an international style museum designed by Harlow Carpenter in Waitsfield Vermont.

Art Criticism

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Spence wrote critical reviews for David Cohen’s Artcritical Magazine. Spence and Cohen produced The Review Panel at Brooklyn Public Library, a forum for live art criticism that took place monthly at the library's Dweck Auditorium from years 2014 - 2021.Spence was the Executive Publisher of Artcritical .

References

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