Artist Statement

Randy Susick creates works of virtual mixed media that push beyond the limits of unrestraint seemingly established by Abstract Expressionism. The amazingly dense textures and all-over color saturation he achieves with his paintings stem from his meticulous process—somewhat masked by the uninhibited look of the work—that is essentially a hybrid of digital photography, old-fashioned brushwork, and aggressive experimentation.

For most of his pieces, the foundation consists of multiple photo images—collaged and digitally processed to the point of abstraction—printed on canvas or photo paper (using a large format printer with archival inks). To this “underpainting” he adds gelled acrylic paint and random objects, such as wire, metal, beads, popsicle sticks—which themselves are often air-brushed or painted in some way, along with the steadily thickening canvas. The resulting 3-D creation is a welter of painterly effects, whose surface dazzle only hints at the intricate compositional and thematic strategies at play.

Randy is no minimalist—for him more is more; his pieces typically range in size from 15” x 20” to 40” x 50”. “Working in a larger format allows me to add more elements and build up the layers to a dramatic pitch,” he says. “A bigger piece means there’s more to see, which makes the work more engaging; people can see the elements blending and better appreciate the complexities.”

Randy’s work has a random, improvised feel, which is confirmed by his explanation of how he decides which objects to add to each piece—“I just take stuff lying around the studio.” But in their form, these hybrid creations—combining the pristine surfaces of digital production with the raw textures of tangible objects; melding figurative art with abstraction—evoke a relatively clear, powerful message.

“There are some topical themes embedded in a lot of my paintings, but they’re never all that obvious; my style naturally obscures anything too straightforward, says Randy. “The message that’s essential to all my work, though, is freedom, which means exploration, the need to look beyond the surface, and the power of the imagination to harness chaos. That seems to be the way forward in a landscape of oversaturation, where infinite possibility leads to paralysis and masks a kind of stagnation, a denial of what’s real and dynamic about life.”

The paintings evoke the barrage of daily experience and the unseen melding of textures, inducing a response that is antithetical to passivity. Their engaging quality works on a variety of levels, not limited to aesthetic pleasure; engagement with the work could also be seen as an object lesson in participation.

Randy’s commercial art background, which includes graphic design, art direction, photo retouching, and printing, further demonstrates the vital message of his painting, indeed the power at the core of his work: art abides no strict boundaries, whether between modern and traditional approaches, or between genre, technique, and media.