{"data":{"id":"1131","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":1131,"topgoose_id":950,"tms_id":1131,"display_name":"Susan Rothenberg","sort_name":"Rothenberg Susan","display_date":"1945–2020","begin_date":"1945","end_date":"2020","biography":"\u003cp\u003eFor four decades Susan Rothenberg\nhas depicted animal and human forms in\npaintings, drawings, and prints that\nstraddle the divide between representation\nand abstraction. When the young artist\nbegan working in the late 1960s, she\nemployed methods and materials associated\nwith Postminimalism, producing process-\nbased works by cutting wire mesh and\nmanipulating lead, and painting geometric\nabstractions. Dissatisfied with these efforts,\nshe began to ask “if there was anything\nfor [her] to do.” In 1974, while sketching on\na canvas scrap, an answer intuitively\nemerged in the shape of a horse outlined in\nprofile and bifurcated by a vertical line.\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRothenberg went on to depict\nnumerous horses—in side view and frontally,\nstationary and moving—during the following\ndecade, rendering each composition by\nsqueezing paint onto her brush and mixing\ncolors directly on the canvas. The resulting\nsurface texture does not differentiate\nbetween the figure and the ground on which\nit stands or runs. This technique and\nthe recognizable, straightforward subject\nallowed Rothenberg to “stick to the\nphilosophy of the day—keeping the painting\nflat and anti-illusionist,” while simultaneously\nallowing her to “use this big, soft, heavy,\nstrong, powerful form.”\n\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/904\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor the Light\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e the forward-facing\nbeast fills the canvas vertically and charges\ntoward the viewer. Rothenberg wedges\na bonelike shape between its head and the\npicture plane, halting the animal’s momentum\nand reinforcing the materiality of the work.\nRothenberg would later break her horses\ninto fragments, and even turn to the human\nfigure, yet she maintains the distinctive\nstyle forged in early abstractions of the\nequine form.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500024727","wikidata_id":"Q436782","created_at":"2017-08-30T15:57:31.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-10T07:03:32.000-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/1131/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/1131/exhibitions"}}}}