Owned by Deborah Morris, Visiting Assistant Professor, Drawing / Painting
Susana and I met as undergraduates and we’ve been friends ever since - about forty years. …Having art in my home is a way of making connections with other human beings. Most of the work we have is from people we know, and there’s always this special connection when you see work by somebody you know. For me, every time I look at work by friends, I think about them, and about how looking at their work reveals another aspect of them that I might not have known, through regular conversation and interaction.
Susana is really fascinated with monkeys, and she’s painted many portraits of monkeys – all very refined and finished. They’re magical and silly because they are are so realistic. Humor is a device that she often relies on to deal with issues in life. In this painting, the monkey is the trickster, and he’s inflating her, making her pregnant, with his kind of magic…. She’s talking about mythology, art history, human nature – but it’s also very personal, and quite tongue-in-cheek.
Deborah Morris, 2012