Susan Canavarro

Artist Statement

Occasionally I have felt compelled to make a visual statement incorporating the use of text about a political event such as the Persian Gulf war in 1991 and the resultant flight of the Kurdish refugees, the subjugation and violation of women's rights, and the injustices many people are forced to endure. I do not necessarily wish to propagandize but rather to make a statement of reality - this is what we are and this is how I feel about it. Hopefully, the image, the quality of technique, and the idea will meld into a visual concept in order to create an immediate and powerful impact on the viewer. The war paintings/statements are about George Bush's war in the Gulf in 1991 and are equally appropriate in expressing my feelings about the current war in Iraq instigated by George W. Bush, Jr.

The two paintings called The Other Day... were inspired by a conversation between two male students in a watercolor class at Chico State. Briefly, one young man was telling the other that if it weren't for guys like him, there wouldn't be guys like him. And I remember thinking, you got that right, mister! I was thinking it was a rather arrogant pompous thing for a guy to say, and then suddenly it dawned on me, He's right! If it weren't for guys, like him, there wouldn't be any guys or gals like all of us! And it triggered a series of abstract paintings with the text of the story worked as part of the image.