Coming Up for Air (2020-Present)

 

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming up for Air (#1)

Coming up for Air (#1) | 2020 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air #2

Coming Up for Air #2 | 2021 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air #3

Coming Up for Air #3 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming up for Air (shadow)

Coming up for Air (shadow) | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming up for Air (#5)

Coming up for Air (#5) | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air #6 (Turtle Island)

Coming Up for Air #6 (Turtle Island) | 2021 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming up for Air (#7) [Minogame]

Coming up for Air (#7) [Minogame] | 2023 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air #8

Coming Up for Air #8 | 2022 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air (#9)

Coming Up for Air (#9) | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air (#10)

Coming Up for Air (#10) | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air (#11)

Coming Up for Air (#11) | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air (#12)

Coming Up for Air (#12) | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air #13

Coming Up for Air #13 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming up for Air #14

Coming up for Air #14 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coming Up for Air (#15)

Coming Up for Air (#15) | 2022 | 24" x 24" | acrylic and mixed media on birch panel

I’m standing on the boardwalk of Sugar Hollow wetland watching a dark shape swirl below the water. Soon, a snapping turtle’s little nostrils and bulging dim eyes break the surface, emerging from the prehistoric into the present. Nearby, a slider turtle basks on a log jutting from the water, its yellow-striped head and paddle-like back feet outstretched like a blissful sun-worshipper. Such sightings—and imagining a turtle’s world—are the focus of my new series of paintings, Coming Up for Air.

Yet these turtle images also tap into our own life experiences. What do we mean, say, when we “come up for air”? A need for a thought-pause or relief from stress? And in some paintings I explore turtle myths, such as the Japanese “minogame,” an ancient turtle with algae trailing from its shell said to represent longevity and wisdom; in my version, I pair a long-lived turtle with an ephemeral mayfly.

But what about all the drips of paint and scrappy leaves combined with moments of meticulous detail? They’re also what the paintings are about: the dialogue between the spontaneous and the intentional, the accidental and the measured—always intertwined in both art and life.