Susan Grossman

Grossman’s most recent charcoal and pastel drawings include large-scale views of downtown New York street life and quietly dramatic rural landscapes.

Susan Grossman’s mostly monochromatic images and black frames initially suggest photography, while capturing the kinetic energy of film. As critic Gerard Haggerty wrote about Grossman’s drawings: Writ large, their scale is cinematic. …Like a single frame snipped out of a film, her works arrest an instant in an unfolding story.  The question of precisely what may happen next is left to the viewer’s imagination, and so her pictures linger in the mind.Grossman’s subtle use of color guides the eye through the scene and helps propel the implied narrative. 

Her urban and rural scenes juxtapose the human with the natural. Traffic signs, telephone poles, and wires inhabit the landscapes, while clouds, sunlight, and wind are essential components of the city scenes.
 
Grossman’s images, while autobiographical in the sense that they are culled from the artist’s own travels and experiences, are deliberately unspecific and allow for the viewer’s own interpretation. In Blind Curve, for example, a country road disappearing into the overgrown landscape might suggest an uncertain future, while telephone wires may hint at a complicated past. 

And Down River, a view of Lower Manhattan with a large cloud hovering above, can either be viewed as depicting what was lost or as providing a glimpse of reconstruction and future renewal.   

Susan Grossman graduated from Bennington College in 1981 and received her MFA from Brooklyn College.  Ms. Grossman has taught at City College of New York, and she maintains studios in Brooklyn and East Hampton. Her work has been collected and exhibited by The New York Historical Society, and can be found in numerous private and corporate collections.

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Exhibitions & Collections

Selected Solo Exhibitions
 

Solo Exhibition: 

2013 January 16 - February 18, Film Noir 514 West 24th Street, New York City

2012 Solo Exhibit, The Butler Institute of American Art

2012 "Bright Lights Big City", Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC

2009 Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, NC

2009 New Drawings, DFN Gallery, New York, NY New Drawings

2009 Elins Eagles-Smith Gallery, San Francisco, CA Recent Drawings

2009 Wall Street Journal Building, New York, NY

2007 New Drawings, DFN Gallery, New York, NY

2006 New Drawings, DFN Gallery, New York, NY 

2004 New Drawings, DFN Gallery,New York, NY
          Matre Gallery, Atlanta, GA 

2003 New Work, DFN Gallery,New York, NYMatre Gallery, Atlanta,GA

2001 TriBeCa, DFN Gallery,New York, NYMatre Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2000 The Arsenal Gallery, New York, NY, curated by City of New York Parks and Recreation

2000  New Works, DFN Gallery, New York, NY
2000  Matre Gallery, Atlanta, GA 

1999 DFN Gallery, New York, NYThompson Financial, New York, NY 

1993 Duncan Gallery, Stetson University, FL 

1992 Tatischeff Gallery, New York, NY 

1991 Frank Bernarducci Gallery, New York, NY 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2012 "Lois Dodd and Her Students",
The firehouse Center for the Falcon Foundation, Maine

2008 Works on Paper, DFN Gallery, New York, NY

2007 Wet, DFN Gallery, New York, NY

2006 New York at Night, DFN Gallery, New York, NY

2005 10th Anniversary Show, DFN Gallery, New York, NY

2004 Innocence Found, DFN Gallery, New York, NYSkies & Scapes, DFN Gallery, New York, NYSmall Wonders, Matre Gallery, Atlanta, GA 

2003 People, Places, Things, DFN Gallery, New York, NYThe Burbs, DFN Gallery, New York, NY 

2002 TriBeCa Works on Paper Show, DFN Gallery, New York, NY

2000 Summer Show, DFN Gallery, New York, NYGallery Artists, Matre Gallery, Atlanta, GA

1999 Roadshow, DFN Gallery, New York, NY 

1998 Realism?, DFN Gallery, New York, NY 

1994 New York, Wellesley Ross Gallery, New York, NY, curated by Frank Bernarducci

1992 NYC Landscapes, 92nd Street Y, New York, NY,
curated by Betty Levin

Commissions / Collections

The Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara, CA
ASCAP Headquarters, New York, NY
Baring Securities, New York, NY
Barclay’s Bank, New York, NY
Brooklyn College, Mural (CUNY)
Funded by: The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York
Chase Enterprises, Hartford, CT
John Wiley Publishers, Hoboken, NJ
Kidder Peabody Headquarters, New York, NY
Lincolnshire Management, New York, NY
The New York Historical Society, New York, NY
Popham Haik, Washington, D.C. 
Richard, Layton and Finger P.A., Wilmington, DE
Roundabout Theater Company, New York, NY
The World Summit for Children, United Nations, New York, NY