Suzi Gablik

Saturday evening, I was terribly sorry to receive the sad news from the Virginia Tech curator, Robin Scully, a close mutual friend of Suzi Gablik, of her passing at the age of 87, not that old by today’s standards. I expect there will be some sort of public event because her work was so important to so many in the artworld. I hope to honor her then.

Though we hadn’t been in touch for years, I felt struck down in the midst of all the other reasons to feel grief right now. It just seemed like we’re suddenly losing everyone sane and courageous and the way forward is darker than ever.

Robin introduced me to Suzi in 2016 while I was doing The Blued Trees Symphony in VA and she did an interview with Robin about her feelings about that work for my blog. I’m grateful to Robin for that introduction and the interview. Besides her great intelligence, she was a remarkably kind and generous person, as all know all too well in the artworld, an unusual combination of qualities.

Despite disabilities as she aged, she was profoundly clued into environmental and political matters. Our last conversation in person was the night of the 2016 election as we watched the inexorable results roll in together. As I was leaving she asked rhetorically, "what are we going to do now?" I don't recall what I said. What could I have said? 

Someplace I have a couple drawings of her but in the chaos of moving, they aren’t readily available. They exist someplace in my FB archives from 2016. In her later years, her only communication was by phone because her eyesight failed so dramatically. I love the attached pic of her bathed in light despite her own dark glasses.

Please read the interview with Suzi from 2015: Painting Like My Life Depends on It