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.”

2024 Exhibition Catalogue