I am a self-taught artist based in Brooklyn, NY and sometimes, Hudson, NY, currently working primarily with gouache and acrylic paint on paper, wood panel, and canvas. I like to use painting as a way to share unseen feelings and experiences. A common theme is tension between opposing powerful forces such as order and chaos, safety and exploration, connection and independence, and our internal and external worlds. I often use symbols and use them to tell a narrative. I am especially interested in the symbols contained in everyday household objects. Ultimately, I communicate my internal world in the hope of finding that these hard-to-define feelings, places and experiences are familiar to others, too.
Press Release from Harmonica at Carrie Chen Gallery.
Carrie Chen Gallery Announces SUZANNE KIGGINS: HARMONICA
Press release from Carrie Chen Gallery (Great Barrington, MA– October 1,2022)
The Carrie Chen Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition SUZANNE KIGGINS: HARMONICA from November 12, 2022 to January 14, 2023. This solo exhibition presents new paintings from Brooklyn- based artist Suzanne Kiggins. In Harmonica, fantastical imagery is rendered with heightened emotion, creating a fully realized “through the looking glass” world. A private reception will be held on Saturday, November 12, from 3-5pm. Spaces are limited; email at info@carriechengallery.com to RSVP.
Kiggins’ unconventional use of perspective, her bold color palette, and her emphasis on highly impactful emotion, rather than realism, are reminiscent of the fauvist and naive art movements. Her paintings evoke both Henri Rousseau’s imaginative portrait landscapes, and the thrilling mystery of Camille Bombois. But Kiggins’ style is wholly original. She combines technological motifs and animal imagery, utilizing energetic movement to convey the tensions of modern life. Her paintings can be exuberant or tempestuous– but they are always captivating.
Chief curator and gallery owner Carrie Chen comments: “Suzanne’s work reveals hidden truths about everyday life, which we can all relate to. Each painting is precise and defined. Yet as a whole, Harmonica is unified by its amusing, cheerful qualities.”
Kiggins is an autodidact. Though it’s difficult to believe, she has only begun displaying her paintings within the last three years. This distance from the formalities of the traditional art world allows for stunning originality. Kiggins remarks, “This show explores the existence of the powerful, often opposing forces that exist within us, such as the need for freedom and the need for connection, the desires for chaos and order, for creation and destruction... and the pursuit of the integration and peaceful coexistence of these competing desires, and ultimately, harmony.” Harmonica is Kiggins’ second solo exhibition. It is a rare opportunity to witness an emerging artist with remarkable clarity of vision.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Suzanne Kiggins is a self-taught artist who works primarily with acrylic and gouache on paper, wood panel, and canvas. She takes inspiration from everyday experiences and imagery, as well as dreams and the feelings and moods they evoke. Her work has been displayed extensively throughout New York, including a solo exhibit at Secret Project Robot in Brooklyn, and group shows at ArtPort Kingston, Flux House at Governor’s Island, The Other Art Fair in Brooklyn, The Wassaic Project, and SPRING/BREAK in Manhattan. Kiggins lives in Brooklyn, NY.
ABOUT THE CARRIE CHEN GALLERY
The Carrie Chen Gallery is located on Main Street in Great Barrington, MA. The gallery showcases talented artists, both from the Berkshires and Hudson Valley and from around the world. These artists work in a wide range of styles and media, yet are united by their integrity and innovation. We support and share their visionary work with audiences. The gallery follows this mission with exhibitions, lectures and readings, public installations, and collaboration. Gallery hours are Saturday to Wednesday 11-5 by appointment only.
www.carriechengallery.com
Suzanne Kiggins CV
CV
One River Art School
Solo shows in their Montclair and Millburn, NJ locations
October, 2023, and March-May 2024
Among Friends 3 (Brooklyn, NY)
(Group Show)
April 2024
Visions West Contemporary, Denver, CO and Bozeman, MT
(Group Show)
May 2023-Present
Art Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan (Represented by Carrie Chen)
(Group Booth)
October 2023
Upstate Art Weekend, The Barne On Berme, Kerhonkson, NY
(Group Show)
July 2023
Carrie Chen Gallery (Great Barrington, MA)
HARMONICA
(Solo Show)
November 2022
ArtPort Kingston (Kingston, NY)
Wunder....A Summer Adventure
(Group Show)
July 2022
Among Friends 2 (Manhattan, NY)
(Group Show)
May 2022
Secret Project Robot (Brooklyn, NY)
There Are Two Birds Inside My Heart
(Solo Show)
July 2022
ArtPort Kingston (Kingston, NY)
Dumplings and Sugar Cookies... a Jam Session
(Group Show)
November 2022
Flux House (Governors Island, NYC)
AmphorasamorphA
(Group Show)
October 2021
SPRING/BREAK Art Show (Manhattan, NY)
Hearsay:Heresy
(Group Show)
September 2021
Secret Project Robot (Brooklyn, NY)
SO GATHERING SEEMS ESSENTIAL...
(Group Show)
August 2021
Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY)
If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now
(Group Show)
May 22, 2021
The Other Art Fair (Brooklyn, NY)
(Art Fair)
Nov. 7, 2019