Susan Crookes

“The art that influences & interests me most, perhaps partly due to my background in printmaking is simple, honest and direct with strong design elements-realism doesn’t interest me at all. Outsider, Folk & Naive Art, cartoons & comic-books are what inspires me and continue to sustain my interest. An enduring interest and fascination with animals, their eccentricities and comical personalties, have also been a continuing thread throughout my practice, whether printmaking, sculpture or painting.”

Susan Crookes (b. 1973) is a mid-career artist. She lives with her partner, painter & musician Paul Lacey, their 2nd greyhound Jackson and 6 rescued parrots. They live and work in their home studio in Milang, on Ngarrindjeri Country/Lake Alexandrina, in South Australia’s eastern Fleurieu region. Her work can be found in private, corporate & public collections throughout Australia (The Silk Cut Foundation, National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Australia) and has been included in several national touring exhibitions, awards & publications.

“Home Inside My Head-is my latest collection of paintings-Still Lives, Portraits & Interiors painted in acrylic & mixed media on board & canvas.

These works bring to mind the personal, domestic sanctuary of Home-the tension between an idealised version of home we have in our heads vs. the reality of compromise & circumstance. The need for quietude to recharge & find our equilibrium, whether through people & animals we share (& have shared) our life with; or through our attachment to special belongings & places embodied with our sense of identity, culture & connection to others. Always shifting between the tactile & intangible, longing & memory. When the unthinkable knocks us sideways, and affects our capacity to function as we would wish, our reflex is hold that sense of home within ourselves.”

View the Catalogue from Susan’s 2024 exhibition here