Patrice Sullivan
Patrice Sullivan lives and works in Phoenix, AZ. She received her BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and an MFA from University of Pennsylvania. She has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally - including Gracie Mansion, Jim Kempner and Robert Miller Galleries in New York City, as well as the Gallery of Vaclav Spala in Prague, Czechoslovakia, and Castiglion Fiorentino in Italy. Recently, she has shown at The Shin Gallery in New York City. Museum and university shows include Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA, and Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, CO, and Rhode Island College, Providence, RI. Sullivan has attended residencies at Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s “World Views” Program, Alfred & Trafford Klots International Program, Léhon, France, Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony, Scuola Internazionale Di Grafica Venezia, Venice, Italy, and Chalk Hill Residency in Healdsburg, CA. Recently, she was awarded a scholarship for the Manhattan Graphics Center in NYC for the Fall of 2022.
Sullivan’s artwork has been reviewed by The Huffington Post, Artscore Magazine, Southwest Magazine, Westword magazine. Her work is in many private collections.
Patrice is an Emeritus Professor of Painting at Colorado State University where she taught for twenty-five years. In addition, she was a Lecturer at Harvard University from 1988-1991. Patrice pioneered and taught a study abroad program in Italy through Colorado State University in Tuscany. Please visit my website: www.patricesullivan.com
Artist Statement:
The figure is the embodiment of the human experience. It is the site of courage, joy, and love; of compassion, fear, and pain; of struggle, loneliness, and frustration, or sorrow; of loss. As a narrative, figurative painter, I use the figure to depict these universal emotions. The images in my paintings are twice removed from reality. In their transfer from the tonal and spatial qualities of the photograph to the textural, gestural, and light qualities of the canvas, the figures acquire a new life. Spatial relationships are altered; details prominent in the photograph become irrelevant. The once poised and fixed portrayal is re-created as a natural and fluid image. However, a component of the photographic nature of the image remains: in the stance of a figure, its engagement with the camera, a certain poised consciousness of being observed. This subtle quality provides a compelling backdrop and removes the facades for the viewer. The family environment is the primary focus. The synthesis of the photographic and the painted image, within the familiar context of the family, invites viewers to explore their emotions and transcend worldly barriers: perhaps recalling a moment from parent- or childhood, perhaps renewing a quest to understand the meaning of our existence.
Website: www.patricesullivan.com.
