Article by CJ in Star and Tribune

Live from Loring Park: Pamela

Sukhum adds new dimension to

painting

By C.J., Star Tribune

Last update: June 3, 2009 – 5:37 PM

 

Amazing. A perfectly good adjective that’s become verbal filler, the new “uh,” for a generation that can’t find a thesaurus on Google.com.

Instead, let’s use astonishing to describe the piece of art that Pamela Sukhum produced last week before a paying crowd of about 100 invited to her Infinite Vision Art Studio in Loring Park. The painting performance was part of a Minneapolis Institute of Arts “Circle” event. Wish I could show you the entire 14 minutes and 7 seconds of Sukhum’s performance. At startribune.com/video you will, however, see enough of Sukhum’s wondrous and staggering painting to make your jaw drop.

Sukhum has created a difficult-to-replicate technique of painting.

“I do several different styles of painting, definitely the thought crossed my mind [that she was revealing too much technique]. A lot of the techniques that I have are unique and I have developed over years through trial and error,” said Sukhum, who has a degree in biology.

Those who might attempt her style “are never going to capture the spirit of the artist who began that,” she said. “More than anything what I wanted to do with the performance is create an environment that mimics the environment I feel before starting a piece. That’s why we black out the space. There’s a lot of mystery. It’s almost like going into a void. [Guests were] ushered into complete darkness; they don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s the creative process. You don’t know what’s going to come out next.”

The painting will go through weeks of additional artistic embellishments before it’s completed. “We might have a reunion with the piece with the MIA,” she said.

Related Content

Video: C.J.: Pamela Sukhum’s painting performance 

Pics from the Event….

 

 

Minneapolis Institute of Arts Circle Event

 

 

   

 

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts Circle Presents:
  Pamela Sukhum: A Painting Performance    Join The Circle for a night of art creation featuring a performance at the Infinite Vision Gallery and Studio. Meet noted local artist Pamela Sukhum and experience firsthand the painting of a work of art. 
  

See Pamela at work above, or click here for more.        

Pamela’s breakthrough style was initially fueled by her background as a scientist in the biomedical field. Her art is featured in prominent galleries across the country, and has graced the covers of national and international publications.

Complimentary beer and wine will be served.

Image credit: Pamela Sukhum,www.InfiniteVisionArt.com

 

 

    

Thursday, May 28
6 to 8:30 p.m.
at the
Infinite Vision Art Gallery

 

1645 Hennepin Avenue

 

 Minneapolis 55403

Click here for online reservations (Membership ID required) or call (612) 870-6323.This event is free to Circle members, but reservations are required and space is limited.  The Circle Individual members may reserve one space; The Circle “+1″ members may reserve for themselves and one guest.  

Additional guests and non-members may purchase tickets at $15 each.

A confirmation e-mail with location and directions will be provided prior to event.

Please contact thecircle@artsmia.org
or (612) 870-6323 with event or membership questions.

“What is Feral?” Event at Infinite Vision Studios

I unveiled my most recent series “Feral” in Minneapolis at my gallery and studio space.  We had a great night starting out with a Collector’s painting party followed by a general reception.  It was the first time I had shown these pieces and accompanied each of them with written statements.  In coupling my words with my imagery, I felt more exposed than ever….but also, as the night progressed, more liberated….Please see the previous post for more details on the “Feral” series of paintings.

New Collector, Jack McNaulty, enjoys his new works of art

Feral 3 – “Mystery”

Feral 5 – “Feral Love”

Gallery Reception at OMG Gallery, Texas

Pamela with staff at OMG Gallery, Texas

 

We had a great time in Plano, Texas at the Oh My Godard Gallery.  Heather and Bart Massey, owners, hosted a beautiful private reception at a sushi restaurant and we had the general reception the following day at the gallery.  It was so fun to get to talk intimately with new collectors and folks about the art and life….

 

Collector, Gary Lang, with his new piece, "Bamboo Amongst Oaks"

 

Pamela with staff at OMG Gallery, Texas

Collector, Gary Lang, with his new piece, “Bamboo Amongst Oaks”

Working next to Neiman Marcus is a dangerous thing, indeed.

New “Feral” Painting Series – Feral 2 – “Diving In”

“Feral”

“Feral” (fîr’əl, fĕr’-) adj.

1.    Existing in a wild or untamed state.

2. Having returned to an untamed state from domestication.

THE PAINTINGS:

What is Feral Painting #1 – Reclamation -  As the definition of “feral” goes, “the return to a wild and untamed state after domestication, I find delight in the rediscovery of this piece.  After beginning this painting 4 years ago, I stowed away.  It was in hiding, like my natural, untamed self…kept in the dark for years.  All that time I judged it, “I don’t like it, It’s too unstructured, too wild, too crazy, too much.”  I could not really even see the piece, it appeared to me as this undefined mess and tangle of shapes and forms.  After my weekend of swimming in the lakes, I found myself pulling this painting from storage.  It was incredible.  It was like I had never seen it before even though I could tell myself it was always there, always a part of me. Today I love this piece.  I love how wild and untamed and full of life it is.  I love how it does not seem to mind the tangles and density of intersecting shapes and forms.  It does not seem to mind that it appears without a clear direction or plan.  Instead, it revels in its diving and sweeping lines, its curves and complexity, it lack of control or definition.  This piece reflects the reclamation and the glory of the tangled, messy, uncontrolled, irrepressible, wild womanchild within.

Feral 2 - "Diving In"

Feral 2 – “Diving In”

Feral 2 detail

What is Feral #2 – Diving In – This piece has been 9 months in the making.  I travel through the darkness to find the light over and over again.  No going around it, we can continue to dance around it, fumbling through the darkness or dive into the mystery and see what we find….how often have we been scared of the monster lurking under the bed for years and finally dare to look and find that there was nothing ever there?  We can dive into our own darkness and fears over and over to find that there is ultimately nothing there but vapor, a myth.  And, in that discovery we can begin to free ourselves from our fears that have limited us.  Diving straight into our fears, we find that there is nothing and in that we find our liberation.

What is Feral #3 – “Mystery”

 

 

 

Feral 3 - "Mystery"

Feral 3 – “Mystery”

What is Feral #3 – Mystery – This piece also has been 9 months in the making.  I have wrestled with this piece trying to find the answers week after week.  I finally realized that there is only a beginning with this piece but no ending.  There is no resolution, no answer, only the exploration and an ongoing question.  I watch my own discomfort with not having the answers to everything, not being able to analyze and explain everything away, not being able to judge something, ….not being able to fit everything into a tidy box.   I also realize that in this habitual attempt to categorize and compartmentalize, to control my surroundings, that I am squeezing the very life out of my own experience.  Can I just remain open to the mystery that is, that is unfolding in each moment?

“Attentive to this mystery, the heart can open to directly experience the emptiness which gives birth to all things.” – Jack Kornfeld

What is Feral #4 and #5

Feral4 - "Evolution of the Spirit"

What is Feral #4 – Feral Spirit – Evolution of the Spirit

we think of growing and development of as an accrual of mass, of things, of knowledge.  But what of evolution of the spirit?  It almost seems like the reverse, a shedding process, a process of stripping down.

Feral 5 - "Feral Love"

What is Feral #5 – Feral Love – What is Feral Love? – in progress…..

“I have crossed oceans of time to find you……Do you believe in destiny? That even the powers of time can be altered for a single purpose? That the luckiest man who walks on this earth is the one who finds… true love?”            -Bram Stoker’s Dracula

“Storms in Africa” by Pamela Sukhum chosen for cover art for Maria Lorenzo’s most recent book

Pamela Sukhum’s “Meditation” on the cover of Integral Premier Cover Oct 2008

New Works….in progress…

Partial Image from New Series

“To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.”   – Isaac Newton

“Attentive to this mystery, the heart can open to directly experience the emptiness which gives birth to all things.” – Jack Kornfeld

Diving into Mystery- a continuation of the Feral experiences.

As an artist I feel it is my work to be an explorer and to share my experiences with others.  It is my passion to play an explorer and adventurer of not only the outer but also the inner terrain.  Most of my early years have been spent seeking new experience in the outer world, orienting myself to the outer world, not only by  traveling to other continents, flying in the air, sleeping in caves, and diving into oceans but also by looking to the outside for validation, recognition, admiration, acceptance.   I also now see my need to explore the inner terrain.   Until now, I never knew how vast the inner landscape could be.  Who knew that we each contain the vastness of the cosmos within each of us?  Walt Whitman did when he wrote, “I am large.  I contain multitudes.”  Sometimes this inner journey feels light, wondrous, and joyful and other times treacherous, lonely, and challenging.  As I continue to dive in, I find ever expanding and wondrous new places and new possibilities. It is only through this inner exploration and awareness that my outer world has transformed in the most beautiful and mysterious ways.

The Paintings

These new pieces are developing very slowly and gradually, one brushstroke at a time.  I watch my own delight and discomfort in the mystery.  I truly do not know where this new series is heading…..

Here are some sneak peaks.  I am only revealing small portions of the new pieces in progress.  In a few months we will have another show where we will unveil the new series in its entirety.