Susan Silas
Encyclopedia
Susan Silas is a visual artist and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Silas is a dual American and Hungarian national who has built a diverse career as an artist during the past two decades. Silas has been exhibiting her work in the US and in Europe since 1985, and has taught at New York University
and Cooper Union
.
and her Masters in Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts
. After completing her graduate studies in 1983, she moved from Los Angeles back to New York. Soon afterwards, she began exhibiting her work in group exhibitions including: White Columns
, New York; New Langton Arts
, San Francisco; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles; Cal Arts: Skeptical Belief(s); The Renaissance Society
, Chicago; Girls Night Out; Femininity as Masquerade, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; and Bridges and Boundaries The Jewish Museum
, New York. In 1990, Silas had her first solo exhibition, at fiction/nonfiction in New York. This exhibition was followed in 1991 by a solo exhibition in Paris
at Galerie Antoine Candau.
radio and more recently with ArtonAir.org. In November 2005 this work, along with a video installation were the subject of a solo exhibition at the Koffler Gallery in Toronto
, accompanied by an essay on her work by the scholar Brett Ashley Kaplan. “Helmbrechts walk, 1998-2003” was exhibited at Hebrew Union College Museum in New York City from September 2009 to June 2010 and then traveled in an English/German edition to Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim in Neuenhaus, Germany in the summer of 2010 and to Kunsthalle Exnergasse in Vienna in the fall of that year. A fuller consideration of this work was recently published in Landscapes of Holocaust Postmemory by Brett Ashley Kaplan. Other recent works include a four screen video installation of the four Nazi death camps in Poland, "Untitled (11–14 May 1998)", shown in February, 2001 at the Cooley Memorial Gallery in Portland, Oregon
and a sound work on CD exhibited at the Staller Center
at Stony Brook.
“To put it in terms reflective of Silas’s photographic process and subject, Silas had to find the entropy that would hold us enrapt, keep us from turning away. Here there is no contest. Of all animals, none preserve the beauty and dignity of death with a grandeur and longevity approaching that of the many species of birds.” G. Roger Denson
(excerpted from “On The Resurrection of Dead Birds”)
A selection from this body of work entitled eyes wide shut, 2010 will be exhibited in a solo exhibition at CB1 Gallery in Los Angeles, CA from April 9 - May 14, 2011 along with the premiere of the video performance A child of sixties television singing songs that got stuck in her head.
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and Cooper Union
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly referred to simply as Cooper Union, is a privately funded college in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States, located at Cooper Square and Astor Place...
.
Education and early career
Silas received her BA in history from Reed CollegeReed College
Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus located in Portland's Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness...
and her Masters in Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
. After completing her graduate studies in 1983, she moved from Los Angeles back to New York. Soon afterwards, she began exhibiting her work in group exhibitions including: White Columns
White Columns
White Columns is New York City’s oldest alternative non-profit space and one of its most prestigious. White Columns is known as a show case for up and coming artists....
, New York; New Langton Arts
New Langton Arts
-About:New Langton Arts was a not-for-profit arts organization focusing on contemporary art founded in 1975 in San Francisco, California. Part of the first wave of alternative art spaces in the US, New Langton Arts was a leader in exhibiting new media forms in art, and involving artists in the...
, San Francisco; Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles; Cal Arts: Skeptical Belief(s); The Renaissance Society
The Renaissance Society
The Renaissance Society is a non-collecting contemporary art museum in Chicago, Illinois. It is located on the campus of the University of Chicago, although it is a fully separate entity.-Overview:...
, Chicago; Girls Night Out; Femininity as Masquerade, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; and Bridges and Boundaries The Jewish Museum
Jewish Museum
Jewish Museum may refer to:Australia* Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne, VictoriaAustria* Jewish Museum ViennaCzech Republic* Jewish Museum of PragueDenmark* Danish Jewish Museum, CopenhagenGeorgia...
, New York. In 1990, Silas had her first solo exhibition, at fiction/nonfiction in New York. This exhibition was followed in 1991 by a solo exhibition in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
at Galerie Antoine Candau.
Work on landscape and “Holocaust Postmemory”
For the past decade Silas’ work has focused on landscape and memory. In 1997, she began working on "Helmbrechts walk, 1998-2003", a project in which she retraced the steps of an historical death march of all women that took place at the close of the Second World War, walking for 22 days and 225 miles in Eastern Europe. This work found several forms: an unbound 48 plate artist book, a video installation and a slide projection. It has been discussed in the chapter on her work in the book Memory Effects: The Holocaust and the Art of Secondary Witnessing by Dora Apel and was the subject of an interview with her for a broadcast on BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
radio and more recently with ArtonAir.org. In November 2005 this work, along with a video installation were the subject of a solo exhibition at the Koffler Gallery in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, accompanied by an essay on her work by the scholar Brett Ashley Kaplan. “Helmbrechts walk, 1998-2003” was exhibited at Hebrew Union College Museum in New York City from September 2009 to June 2010 and then traveled in an English/German edition to Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim in Neuenhaus, Germany in the summer of 2010 and to Kunsthalle Exnergasse in Vienna in the fall of that year. A fuller consideration of this work was recently published in Landscapes of Holocaust Postmemory by Brett Ashley Kaplan. Other recent works include a four screen video installation of the four Nazi death camps in Poland, "Untitled (11–14 May 1998)", shown in February, 2001 at the Cooley Memorial Gallery in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
and a sound work on CD exhibited at the Staller Center
Staller Center
The Staller Center for the Arts is the main arts building at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Originally called the fine arts center, it was renamed after a $2 million donation by the Staller family, including former Old Field Mayor Cary F. Staller, who own commercial real estate on...
at Stony Brook.
Recent work
Silas’ most recent work consists of an ongoing study of decaying birds.“To put it in terms reflective of Silas’s photographic process and subject, Silas had to find the entropy that would hold us enrapt, keep us from turning away. Here there is no contest. Of all animals, none preserve the beauty and dignity of death with a grandeur and longevity approaching that of the many species of birds.” G. Roger Denson
G. Roger Denson
G. Roger Denson is an American art critic, theoretician, novelist, and curator. A regular contributor to Huffington Post, his writings have also appeared in such international publications as Art in America, Parkett, Artscribe International, Flash Art, Bijutsu Techo, Kunstlerhaus Bethanien,...
(excerpted from “On The Resurrection of Dead Birds”)
A selection from this body of work entitled eyes wide shut, 2010 will be exhibited in a solo exhibition at CB1 Gallery in Los Angeles, CA from April 9 - May 14, 2011 along with the premiere of the video performance A child of sixties television singing songs that got stuck in her head.
Publications
Silas has written featured articles for the online magazine ArtNet. She has been published in Podium, the online literary magazine of the 92nd Street Y in New York City, on channel 13’s website REEL 13, in the literary magazine Exquisite Corpse, in cultureID, and most recently in the Modern Love column in the Sunday New York Times.Selected Bibliography
- Susan Silas’ Heroic Living, Hungry Hyaena, 16 May 2010.
- I Love Susan Silas, Charlie Finch, ArtNet Magazine, August, 2009.
- "We are all witnesses": Susan Silas's Helmbrechts walk Erin Hanas, Montage, 2009.
- Exposing violence, amnesia, and the fascist forest through Susan Silas and Collier Schorr's Holocaust Art, Brett Ashley Kaplan, Images, vol 2, number 1, 2008. Brill publishing.
- Camera Austria
External links
- artists's homepage
- Artnet Magazine; dennis adams at the queens museum by Susan Silas
- a love letter to oleg kulik, by Susan Silas, Artnet Magazine, May 1, 1997
- Newsgrist – Susan Silas: Found Birds
- YouTube; Untitled, (11-14 May 1998), 2001
- pigeon study, 2007–2008
- Exquisite Corpse; pigeon study, 2007-2008
- Podium; Found Bird by Susan Silas
- Exquisite Corpse; For David Foster Wallace with Love and Squalus by Susan Silas
- THIRTEEN: NEW YORK PUBLIC MEDIA; REEL 13 – I Paid for Woodstock by Susan Silas, 28 August 2009
- cultureID, Helmbrechts walk – meditations by Susan Silas
- Hebrew Union College; Susan Silas: Hembrechts walk, 1998-2003
- ArtOnAir.org – Art International Radio – Susan Silas
- Artico – Bless My Homeland Forever. Wien – Kunsthalle Exnergasse WUK
- Landscapes of Holocaust Postmemory by Brett Ashley Kaplan
- The New York Times – Modern Love; Sex on the Run? No, We Parked by Susan Silas, 10 October 2010