Last Name 1
Susan McClelland moves beyond her
career mold of ‘failed language’ – which were
works that included small prepositions or
obscenities that, in turn, let the viewer read
between the lines. In her most recent exhibit,
Mute at Team Gallery, she leaves her
obsession with text behind.
McClelland’s series Mute (2019) depicts
monolithic forms against monochromatic
backgrounds. Each work within the series uses
dry and wet oil pigments combined with other
mixed media on canvas. These works are then
tilted using singular letters of the alphabet – a
nod to past compulsions and a need for order.
Ultimately, these limited titles let the medium speak for itself
and flow/drip/ooze down the piece.
Mute: V, a specific piece from the series, seems to
present to the viewer a silhouetted black-and-white figure that
has its back turned. The dense paint that forms in the left corner suggest a sheet within the
piece, which covers items laid underneath it – hiding the intensity behind the piece as a
whole. The pigment separation gives a sense of pulsation, as if this canvas held within it an
intricate network of bodily systems.
Without exception, McClelland has always addressed political and feminist issues
within her pieces. In this specific series, she is addressing these same issues as well as trying
to communicate how wordless paintings and abstractions speak to the fact that language has
become pointless in an era of miscommunication and chatter.
Sample | Weekly Writing Response
Mute: V
Dry pigment, mica, archival glitter,
polymer on canvas
40” x 30” | 2018-19
Last Name 2
The work becomes meaningful to the viewer by pushing them to look beyond the
sparkling and densely populated scenes in order to interpret what is going on, retracting the
artists voice in a loud and overwhelming era.
Hirsch, Faye. “Suzanne McClelland's ‘Mute’ Paintings Demonstrate a Provocative Silence in an Era of Noise.” Art In America, January 14, 2020. https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/suzanne-mcclelland-mute-team-gallery-1202675122/.
Sample | Weekly Writing Response
