Triptyque in a Birch
Jorge Oswaldo Martinez
Changing Skin Yinchuan Birch, Triptyque I
(70cmx90cm) Medium: 4 colours woodcut
Finally! The long awaited moment has arrived at LEA (la Espiral Absoluta) as we just received, via email, the latest wood-cut prints made by Susie Veroff, directly from China. The peeling texture of diverse birch barks is the recurrent source of inspiration used by Susie Veroff. For a refined and critical spectator, the images tend to sooth or exalt the imagination, maybe even in a somewhat disturbing or provocative fashion. The various and unexpected sensations, (somehow impregnated with a tinge of Fauvism), produce, in the soul of the Self, a symphony of images and palettes of harmonious colours which can only have been conceived through a very holistic and organic way of playing with the substance and its essence, and also, in this case, with the ethereal and the eternal. In this sense, again, my interpretation of Susie Veroff’s Triptyque in a Birch (as I call it), is seeing the artist as similar to those human beings who, for pure pleasure, dedicate part of their lives to the activity of bird watching; thus, more or less in the same manner, the birch observer has to penetrate into the most microcosmic state of contemplation of nature itself, in order to seize a moment of satisfaction, or moreover, to manifest artistically the necessity of extinguishing the collective anguish of desire and impotency that dominates our modern societies in a global context. Some experts in the field of Critical Thinking call it: the invisible chains of human Reality. Susie’s Triptyque in a Birch has the power, to a certain extent, to make us feel like co-partners in this joint venture called life. The idea is not to escape reality but to mock it (to laugh right in her face… but with equilibrium and respect). In the end, there’s nothing more refreshingly reflective and provocative than Susie Veroff ‘s images (which are full of life, effervescence and euphoria). If we look under the skin of people and trees, we can discover, at the same time, an opportunity to regain our own lost innocence, becoming, eventually, eye-witnesses, of a sort, of cathartic cleansing. We are invited to take part, if we wish, of something that could yield a sense of satiety and deliverance, to experience an instant of well-being and redemption.
International Art Simposium, Yinchuan, China, 2016
Susie Veroff was part of this year’s International Art Symposium in Yinchuan, China, 2016. We can see her printing in real time in a Studio Space that was created within the Art event, providing the artist with a press and printing equipment. The idea was to facilitate the technical aspects of the demanding but dynamic work that is involved in the printmaking process. In the case of the “birch effect” of Susie Veroff, fine art is at its best and highest potential to move hearts and consciousness towards touching the Soul, the only remnant of the self once the physical body is ejected from this world into new realms of things beyond imagination itself. Let’s not forget that there’s a lot of “Desartisation” in this post-modern era. And let’s prepare ourselves for the next stage in today’s Hyperism under the spell of some “bigger than life” type of events that carry the seeds of a new generation lost in space and time (perhaps looking for an extraterrestrial truth), the same generation occupied and concerned with and involved in the civilization of Entertainment.
Changing Skin Yinchuan Birch, Triptyque II
(70cmX90cm) Medium: 4 colours woodcut
Susie Veroff started painting and doing printmaking at age 15 but received formal training from the Banff School of Fine Arts, (Banff, Alberta); Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (Halifax, Nova Scotia), and Cooper Union ( NYC, New York), obtaining a Bachelors of Fine Art in 1977. Since then, she has been practicing art and also teaching fine arts in a post-secondary college in Montréal, Québec, Canada. She has participated in many provincial, national and international expositions throughout the last 35 years, and has had many solo exhibitions, mostly in Montréal.
Changing Skin Yinchuan Birch, Triptyque III
(90cmX70cm) Medium: 4 colours woodcut
La Espiral Absoluta 