Susan Hope Fogel

Dune Grasses (Classical Realist Oil Landscape of Beach Grasses, Gold Leaf Frame)

There is no doubt that Susan Hope Fogel will be concerned one of the 'modern masters' of her time. Early in her career, Fogel held a distinctly classical approach to traditional realism as evidenced in her landscape and still life paintings. Created in oil, painted in studio or plein air, she always paints the light. When one considers the difficulty in understanding the role of light on form and color, especially its ever-changing presence and effect, it is perhaps easier to understand the dismissal of classical training by both "modern" artists and the numerous middlemen involved in the artworld of today. In 2015, after spending many years painting in the style of traditional realism, Susan Hope Fogel had the opportunity to work with Paul Ching-Bor to explore a new form of expression in Deconstructionist Watercolor. Working in New York City with a group of large scale watercolorists, Fogel soon found herself fascinated by the experimental quality of this new media. A great departure from the world of realism this media allowed for great freedom of expression creating from an intuitive place, deep within, instead of inspiration from the outside world. The focus of her work has now shifted to large scale watercolor painting with an emphasis on abstraction of landscape and cityscape. Susan has studied in art schools in New York City including: classical drawing at The New York Academy of Art, figure and portrait painting at The Art Students League and The National Academy of Design. She credits John Philip Osborne for developing her painter’s eyes at The Ridgewood Art Institute.