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Sue Perry - Paintings

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BLUE APOLLO

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2015-03-16T00:00:00-07:00

“this ‘hoard
Of destructions,’ a picture of ourselves”

Wallace Stevens, The Man With The Blue Guitar

Blue Apollo began in Harlem during a month-long stay September 1998 at a (not “the”) Chelsea hotel, whence I could begin research for a series of New York paintings while also visiting museums at leisure. We’d just emerged from the Studio Museum, down the street from the Apollo Theatre, when the blue man in white moon boots stepped in front of my camera. Other figures in the painting, the man with the yellow umbrella, the guy with the horizontal stripes on his chest, the two women in the right corner, were found nearby. Unfortunately, no finally satisfactory photographed material showed up for the left corner but I “completed” the painting anyway, and since our grandson Jesse liked it, the work accompanied him as he moved about Seattle, hanging it on various walls as his career and family life changed and grew.

Always, however, there was the lamentable lower left corner. Then one fall day in Paris during 2012, I found its present occupant. His hat and hoodie seemed an incarnation of Trayvon Martin. And, as the situation in Ferguson developed last summer, I redesigned the painting to make room for this young man.

The background behind “Trayvon” as well as the paving in the foreground (which now includes shadows) were, however, significantly changed. (The two paintings are perhaps not as different in tone and value as these reproductions might appear since the “2002 state,” which of course no longer exists, is represented by a digital version of its original slide.)

Picasso once characterized a painting as “une somme de déstructions.” Painters are aware of this on more than one level. For me, the fact that each touch of the brush invokes a loss of paint beneath retards progress. In this case, however, “Trayvon” moved quickly from France to the US–although the shifts in his painted “environment” took several weeks.

* * * * *

The “Site” has been quiescent for awhile. This is, in part, because I’ve been making new paintings. “Power Struggle,” oil on canvas, 32″ x 42,” 2014, was circulated as a Christmas card. There are half a dozen more works now ready for posting. I plan to get them up at 30-day intervals and will alert regular recipients by email when they are ready for viewing. (Meanwhile, of course, you’re always welcome to browse! Purchases are possible through Sisko Gallery 206-283-2998.)

3 Responses to “BLUE APOLLO”

Gaby says:

March 19, 2015 at 2:57 am

Wowzer Sue, that took a lot of guts to update a painting after so long. There is serious tension between the figures and the viewer now. Everybody is looking at Trayvon and he is looking at YOU. Congratulations!

Amy Hagopian says:

March 19, 2015 at 8:14 pm

What a difference the corner makes. It’s remarkable how wet it all looks–that must be hard to do. I love this painting.

Valerie says:

March 20, 2015 at 4:25 am

Haunting.

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