Susan Graham

Susan Graham

Susan Graham does sculptures mostly using wire and copper, and it mostly consists of animals. She uses a three dimensional drawing on a two dimensional surface and takes a single continuous strand of steel or copper wire and uses it as long as possible. Expression and gesture is important to each animal in her work.

In all of these animals you can see the gesture importance that she has in her work. Although it may not be on purpose, I really enjoyed the way they are displayed in a white room and the way the lighting works because it creates a shadow, and with the linear craziness, it makes the objects look almost blurry! I chose to show the giraffe because it is my favorite animal and also because I think the use of the neck with the wire and the fact that it is just one long wire makes her work look complicated and not easy. I think the birds also show incredible linear quality and I also love the way they are displayed as if they are flying. If animals were made of wire, this is what they would look like.

My Dad’s Gun Collection, 2002

Glazed porcelain

I really enjoy these pieces she created because of the object it portrays and the material that it is made out of. Guns are harsh and dangerous objects and they even look that way. The fact that these are made of something so fragile, and almost looked crocheted, is completely ironic. They look safe and even beautiful. The linear quality that the porcelain has here is exceptional and intriguing. The title to me does not make sense; I just feel that a man, a father, would not own these, and I understand that they are guns, but I do not see how it correlates with the softness of the transformed objects.