oldblueshanging, while she waits

Suzanne Jackson began exhibiting in the vibrant artistic and activist context of 1960s and ’70s Los Angeles. Over the course of her six-decade career, Jackson has developed an interdisciplinary practice as an artist, gallerist, dancer, educator, and stage designer and an equally expansive approach to process and medium. oldblueshanging, while she waits, made in 2017, epitomizes Jackson’s recent artistic developments. In this work, a large assemblage of layered material—including recycled acrylic, leaves, and Sumi paper from her previous painting newblueshanging (2104)—is suspended in clear acrylic paint and collaged paper, and held together by repurposed stretcher bars. The hanging structure dramatically projects off the wall and into the gallery space. Jackson's title references her deep connection to musical traditions of spirituals and the blues, a cultural history that she re-engaged after returning to the South in 1996.