
at the Katzen Arts Center Museum, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC
January 26 – March 17, 2013
Gallery Talk: March 2 at 4 p.m.
Susan Yanero paints a multi-layered world caught in a moment – stopped in time. Her characters take one deep breath and wait. As described in the quote by Nabakov hanging on the gallery wall, Yanero is “taming time.” In the painting Helicopter the children are frozen in their happy play. Perhaps the hovering red helicopter may foretell disaster but a fence blocks our view of anything beyond.
In Mafia with Innocents (above) a trapeze artist with corkscrew curls hangs above three doll-children solidified to the bottom of the canvas with an intense red. One has a halo, the other has no arms, a third falls off the bottom edge of the canvas. On each side is a legless man on a spinning wheeled platform. Each man has a tornado above his head and is pointing a gun while arrows threaten the children. This painting is eerie and foreboding but at the same time satirical in its craziness.

Yanero’s use of color gives power and force to this painting and she builds the paint surface until it is solid. The woman’s body is weighty, but limp, falling over the edge of the tub. A cat drops a red mouse on the woman’s back – as if trying to bring back life.

Many layers of pigment and meaning are in these paintings. It is impossible not to be taken in by the mysterious, complex world of Susan Yanero. Movement and energy are here although a haunting stillness pervades each painting.
Also of interest: SUSAN YANERO at the Washington Studio School Gallery.

at the Washington Studio School through March 27, 2129 S Street NW 202-234-3030
11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, weekends by appointment.