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Although they do it in very different ways,
Katelyn and Red Skirt demonstrate Scoon’s
persistent interest in women’s beauty and fashion. The
girl pictured in Katelyn looks out at the view
with intense blue-green eyes rimmed in thick black
eyeliner. The painter applies a delicate line of black
paint to the canvas as if she is applying eyeliner to
her model’s face. In other ways too, Scoon’s paint
application reminds me of makeup applied to a woman’s
body. The flesh tones and pinks of Katelyn’s skin and
the slightly darker powdery mauves that make up the
background of the image are rubbed and blended in the
way that foundation, blusher, and powder are applied to
a woman’s face, neck and shoulders. Scoon’s treatment of
Katelyn’s fashionable hair color is marvelous. With a
few restrained shapes and wispy brushstrokes Scoon
sketches in the dark lowlights, and the dramatic red and
blond highlights that tell us so much about her model’s
personality. It seems that Katelyn has a sense of her
own beauty but is not narcissistic. She has a strong
sense of self and is ready to meet the challenges coming
her way.
Red Skirt was no doubt produced more quickly and one imagines that painting it was as fun as it is to look at it. Scoon works again with a reduced palette—reds and blacks dominate—yet the color in Red Skirt is juicy and dramatic. With quick painterly marks Scoon celebrates the glamour and fantasy propagated by the fashion industry. And although most viewers would never dream of purchasing a gown like the one pictured in this image, most will feel a vicarious thrill as they feast their eyes on Scoon’s brilliant rendering of its rich red taffeta skirt, whose color is echoed in the beads pilled around the model’s neck, nail polish and lipstick.
This blog is made up of my notes on studio and exhibition visits. I am an independent critic and curator interested in the role of the viewer in the art community. I'm using this site to share my practice and create community. ---Patricia Briggs, PhD April, 2011 patricia briggs @ me.com http://artsceneunseen.wordpress.com/
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2 Responses to Two Painting by Suellyn Scoon in Kenosha Galleries
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Katie 
April 
Kate 
Lydia 
Nancy Neider
jerry belland
Sharon Mogden
Ann Niccolai
amanda aude
Amber 
Ada James
The subjects almost dare the observer to enter their world, yet seem untouchable — on pause somewhere between forward and rewind.
Katelyn is an extraordinary painting. I haven’t the competence to speak of the technical side of the work, but I feel it captures the subject’s considerable beauty and at the same time her very considerable sadness. In effect, it tells us that great physical beauty alone is not the fix for all our problems. Her inner sadness, despite her beauty, is almost overwhelming to look at. This is an extraordinary artistic achievement.
Red Skirt is also telling me two things. The subject is a rather young adolescent. She is beginning to be sophisticated and beautiful, but her right elbow shows that she still is a young girl just learning the ropes. The painting is executed with great sympathy for the subject. But the lesson is clear: adolescent girls have to BECOME women, and this takes time. Again, this is an extraordinary painting