SUSAN VECSEY

Susan Vecsey adapts the Color Field technique of pouring paint to create a personal language of abstraction, rooted in the natural world and the human experience of it. In a distinctive process that includes plein-air charcoal drawing, pastel and color studies, and multiple pours of liquefied oil on a surface of raw Belgian linen, she builds compositions in luminous tonal combinations that evoke the optical effects of sea, light, and air. Inspired by the landscapes of eastern Long Island, Vecsey’s paintings evoke not just a place, but its very atmosphere.

Born in New Jersey in 1971, Vecsey earned her B.A. from Barnard College and her M.F.A. from the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, where she studied with Graham Nickson. She has had solo exhibitions at Greenville County Museum in South Carolina, John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor, Tayloe Piggott Gallery in Jackson Hole, and Berry Campbell Gallery in New York, among other venues. She lives and works in Manhattan and East Hampton, Long Island. 

FULL BIOGRAPHY

Tuchman. “Unlike, say, Fairfield Porter, another East End artist, Vecsey is less involved with the here and now. She’s not recording the details of daily life. She’s reminding you of places where you have been. With swooping curves, extended horizon lines, and a mix of tonal colors, Vecsey’s compelling images have the character of memories, recollections, reveries. You’re revisiting sites of pleasure and wonderment.”

In 2017, The John Jermain Memorial Library, the Public Library of Sag Harbor, presented an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Susan Vecsey.  Evoking memories of her home near Cedar Point, Vecsey’s abstract paintings recall memories of the landscapes and seascapes of her surroundings.

A painter interested in creating lyrical and poetic themes, Susan Vecsey uses iconic imagery derived from nature.  In a recent review, Gabrielle Selz writes, “Inspired by painters like Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Mark Rothko, Milton Avery and Helen Frankenthaler—all of whom explored the variance of tonality on limited compositional formats—Vecsey creates work that is filled with ideas about arrangement, lyrical color, perspective, repetition and surface.” 

References to representational imagery are a starting point, a vehicle to convey a certain emotion and to explore color, form, and shape.  Vecsey states, “There is a great pleasure in the whole process of creating from the anticipation, the processing to the realization.”  Vecsey’s oil-stained linen and paper works carry on the color field and minimalist traditions in a contemporary context.  She begins with charcoal studies in which she draws her perceptive ideas on paper and then creates elaborate color studies.  Afterwards Vecsey thins oil paint and pours it directly on to primed linen or paper allowing it to flow naturally with some guidance from the artist.  Vecsey says, “With poured paint, timing is everything, and it is important to be decisive with it, and also ready to accept or reject the unexpected.”

Susan Vecsey recently has been creating more dramatic abstract compositions, using bolder geometric shapes, while keeping her quintessential soft edges and areas of raw linen exposed.  Many of these new works are large-scale.  In reference to Vecsey’s 2014 show at Berry Campbell Gallery, New York, a review in Artcritical reads: “this is virtuoso painting.”  

Susan Vecsey’s work was featured in Guild Hall Museum’s 2014 Selections from the Permanent Collection curated by Christina Strassfield, alongside Balcomb Greene, Chuck Close, Eric Fischl, April Gornik, and Mary Heilmann. Mabley Handler Design, Bridgehampton, incorporated Vecsey’s paintings in the 2014 Hamptons Holiday House.  In recent years, the distinguished design dealers, Lee Jofa and Brunschwig & Fils, have used several of her paintings in advertising campaigns.  Vecsey has been featured in magazines such as Architectural Digest, Hamptons Magazine and Veranda. In 2024, Vecsey was a visiting artist at La Maison de Simon, near Giverny, France.

Susan Vecsey’s paintings are widely held in public and private collections around the world.  Vecsey is represented by Berry Campbell Gallery in New York.

© Berry Campbell

CV

Above image: Susan Vecsey, Untitled (Lavender/Orange), 2020, oil on linen, 40 x 76 inches.

Born 1971, Somerville, New Jersey
Lives and works in New York City and East Hampton, New York 

EDUCATION
MFA, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture
Study with Graham Nickson.
BA, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York
Continuing Study, Museum of Modern Art, The New School, International Center of Photography, New York

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Liget Gallery, Budapest, Seat Meets Sky, 2023.
Berry Campbell, New York, 2023.
Berry Campbell, New York, 2020.
Quogue Gallery, New York, Susan Vecsey, 2019.
Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson, Susan Vecsey | New Paintings, 2019.
Berry Campbell, New York, 2018.
Greenville County Museum, South Carolina, 2017.
John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, New York, 2017.
Tayloe Piggott Gallery, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, 2017.
Berry Campbell, New York, Recent Paintings, 2016.
Berry Campbell, New York, Recent Paintings, 2014.
Quogue Gallery, New York, Recent Paintings, 2014.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Recent Paintings, 2010.               
Spanierman Gallery, East Hampton, New York, Light of Spring, 2009.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, New Paintings, 2008. 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, Beyond the Horizon: Interpretations of the Landscape from Women in the Permanent Collection, 2024.
Berry Campbell, New York, Perseverance, 2024.
The Barn, Frampton co., Bridgehampton, New York, Women Choose Women, 2023.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, Community, 2022. (Organized by Berry Campbell)
The Painting Center, New York, Break of Day, Edge of Night, 2022.
Guild Hall, East Hampton, New York, 83rd Artist Members Exhibition, 2021.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, Continuum, 2020. (organized by Berry Campbell)
Guild Hall, East Hampton, New York, 82^nd Artist Members Exhibition, 2020.
Berry Campbell, New York, Artist Insights/ Contemporary Highlights, 2020.
Drive-by-Art, Public Art in the Moment of Social Distancing, 2020, Long Island, New York (organized by Warren Neidich)
Nassau County Museum of Art, blue., 2020.
Berry Campbell, New York, Summer Selections, 2019.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2018.
Art Wynwood, Berry Campbell, 2018.
Palm Beach Modern and Contemporary, Berry Campbell, 2018.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2018.
Art Miami, Berry Campbell, 2017.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2017.
Palm Beach Modern and Contemporary, Berry Campbell, 2017.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2017.
Art Miami, Berry Campbell, 2016.
Berry Campbell, Something (curated by Noah Becker), 2016.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2016.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2016.
Art Southampton, Art Fair, Berry Campbell Gallery, 2015, 2016.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Artist Members Exhibition, 2015.
Art Wynwood, Berry Campbell, 2015.
Berry Campbell, Summer Selections, 2015.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, New Additions to the Permanent Collection, 2010-2014, 2014.
Art Wynwood, Berry Campbell, 2014.
Art Silicon Valley | San Francisco, Berry Campbell, 2014.
Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 2014.
Berry Campbell, Year in Review, New York, 2014.
Miami Project, Berry Campbell, 2014.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 75th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2014.
Spanierman Modern, New York, Modern Selections, 2013.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, First Impressions: Printmaking with Solarplates, 2013.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, Landscape Selections from the Permanent Collection, 2013.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Summer Selections, 2013.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 75th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2013.
Spanierman Modern, New York, Dripping! Pouring! Staining!, 2013.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Landscapes: 1880s to the Present, 2013.
Spanierman Modern, New York, Thirteen Contemporary Artists, 2013.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Summer Selections, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Modern and Contemporary Paintings, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Artists of the East End: Past & Present, 2012.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 74th Annual Guild Hall Artist Member, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Contemporary Artists, 2012.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Artists of the East End, Part 2, 2011.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, 44th Annual Artists of the Springs Invitational, 2011.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, Fifteen Modern and Contemporary Artists, 2011.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, 73rd Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2011.
Spanierman Gallery, New York, In the Tonalist Mood: Paintings from 1860 to the Present, 2011. 
Spanierman Modern, New York, Gallery Selections, 2009.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2009.
Water Mill Museum, New York, 16th Annual Members Exhibition, 2008.
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, New York, East End Photographers Group: 20th Anniversary Exhibition, 2008.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, 70th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2008.
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Columbia Impact 16th Annual Spring Benefit Auction, 2008.
Sylvester & Co. and Amagansett Applied Arts, New York, Second Annual Group Exhibition, 2007.
Sylvester & Co., Amagansett, New York, Water Show, 2007.
Sylvester & Co., Amagansett, New York, Landscape Show, 2007.
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York, 69th Annual Guild Hall Artist Members Exhibition, 2007.
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, Columbia Impact 15th Annual Spring Benefit Auction, 2007.
Sylvester & Co. and Amagansett Applied Arts, New York, First Annual Group Exhibition, 2006.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, New York
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York
Greenville County Museum of Art, South Carolina
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, New York
Grand Hyatt, Presidential Suite, New York

HONORS
American Academy in Rome, Visiting Artist, Italy, 2012
Marika Herskovic Annual Artist Seminar, invitation to present recent work, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, 2012