Susan Mastrangelo’s paintings are boldly sculptural, utilizing a variety of media to produce their abstract, biomorphic forms. The paintings, while fully abstract, reference the body and its connection to making. Each canvas is a riot of color and texture as bold, bright hues intersect patterned textiles and loops of braided cords.
Her assemblage-like paintings begin by creating a lyrical abstraction with upholstery cord. These looping shapes create a rhythm within the paintings as they swirl and meander through her world of pattern and color. Net-like, knitted yarn stretches over passages and twists around forms. Repetition and pattern appear throughout each canvas furthering the energy and rhythm that hums within each.
Craft takes center stage in these works through large swaths of knitting. Mastrangelo explains the importance of this medium, “My grandmother taught me to knit, and consequently, the act of knitting has always brought me great comfort. The repetitive act of building one stitch upon another seems to synchronize with the beating of my own heart while I imagine it working to create a protective tissue inducing an internal healing process.”
Working meditatively and intuitively through repeated motions and layered processes, she composes tender, emotive scenes.