Local artist Suzanne Scott is taking a close look at death and relationships while honoring her late friend at a new show in Tribeca.
The exhibition, entitled “Boy, That Was Fast,” features an array of abstract paintings derived from the fingerprints of Scott’s friends and loved ones. The title was taken from the last words of Tim McDarrah, a friend to Scott who passed away in August 2021.
“I wanted to focus and discuss how important it is not just to have acquaintances but to have real friendships, dig deeply at the nuances, find what makes someone tick,” said Scott. “This is all about relationships and nuanced bonds, and the different kinds of relationships you can have.”
Located at The Catskills in Tribeca, the show features Scott’s style of fingerprint portraits, which she bases off of her subject’s thumbprint on their dominant hand. All the pieces are new artworks created since 2020, and the titles, aside from the self portraits, are taken from something that the subject has said before.
“I put a lot of their personality and their energy into their portrait,” said Scott. “[The titles] give it anonymity, but also gives it another layer of identification and assigns personality.”
This show also features a handful of self portraits where Scott examines the phases of life following the deaths of loved ones. Having lost friends over this past summer, Scott poured her energy and grief into her art.
“Even thinking about during COVID, everyone lost so many people. I had one of my dear friends in July jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, he killed himself. Shortly thereafter Tim died, and two days after that my mentor Chuck Close died,” said Scott. “[The self portraits] were all painted right after my friend jumped off the building and as Tim was dying. Those were the ones where I was really feeling the depths of what it means to be here and how quickly it goes.”
Scott encourages visitors to explore the art not only through her lens, but also through their own mindset.
“Because they are abstract, you can pull what you want from it and relate it to your life. That’s what leads it to the imagination,” said Scott.
At the end of the exhibit, Scott invites visitors to leave their own thumbprint at the gallery with their own answer to a fill-in-the-blank “Boy, That Was ____.”
“If you, right now, think about summarizing your life right now, how would you fill in that blank about your life?” said Scott. “It’s daunting to think about that.”
“Boy, That Was Fast” will be on display through Dec. 30. The Catskills is located at 368 Broadway, with Scott’s exhibition in Suite 410. Gallery hours at Thursday through Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m., or you can make an appointment with Scott by emailing scott.suzanne@gmail.com. When you arrive, buzz Suite 410 to enter.
