Suzanne Jackson

A major figure in Black art communities since the 1960s (when her Los Angeles–based Gallery 32 gave a platform to David Hammons and Betye Saar), multidisciplinary artist Suzanne Jackson is best known for her recent “anti-canvases”—suspended, tapestry-like forms made from acrylic. The artist often embeds them with poetic arrangements of upcycled objects that reference her past. She uses netting she once worked with as a costume designer, bogus paper she collected while painting sets, and produce bags and wood left over from her home renovations. These sculptural pieces are just the latest development in Jackson’s transition away from representational compositions. Early in her career, she made inky, fluid, and dreamlike scenes with light acrylic washes, then experimented with dynamic abstractions that only hinted at figures. Jackson’s work has been exhibited in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and beyond. In 2019, she won a Painters & Sculptors Grant from the Joan Mitchell Foundation. In 2020, she was featured in The Artsy Vanguard.