Phoenix Blog

"matches do more than light cigarettes" oil 30"x40" (dedicated to Faye M. Larkin) by Suzanne Falk

Suzanne Falk is no stranger to the pages of our beloved New Times. Maybe you remember her from this...or this (btw - this photo of her sucks! She's way pretty in real life).

But it's really not what we've written about her that should be remembered. Her paintings are so out-of-this-world spectacular that they will automatically make an imprint on your brain. And she's showing off her latest stuff at Perihelion Arts starting this Friday, January 2nd.


An older Falk work: "my life as a squeak toy" 30x40 oil ©05 (sold: michael janssen/germany)

Falk is largely self-taught and paints incredibly meticulous photo-realist still lifes. Autobiographical and symbolic trinkets make up her carefully ornamented arrangements; each painting comes straight from the heart. She cherishes items that most would discard from old closets and junk drawers and uses these forgotten pieces of nostalgia to tell her stories. While a viewer may not get the particulars of what she's trying to say, the guesswork and discovery of familiar things makes each painting an adventure in itself.

I mean, take a look at this piece, now a few years old...


"the day the scissors came to bunnytown" 36x48 oil ©06 by Suzanne Falk

Seriously, you could spend hours visually poking around in this thing.

Which is exactly what I'll be doing tonight.

--Lilia Menconi