b. 1980, United States
Becky Suss (b. 1980) lives and works in Philadelphia.
Suss’ work explores ideas of intimacy, domesticity and memory. Her large-scale paintings of interiors are holistic representations of the sensory and remembered qualities of space, while her small paintings of objects and books become a library of charged personal items. Devoid of figures, Suss’ style uses flattened architecture, exaggerated proportions, and distorted perspective to amplify the tension between fact and fiction, mirror the plasticity of memory, and challenge the importance of truth-value in effective storytelling.
Her paintings often question the stereotypes of domesticity especially as they relate to the lives of women in America. She is fascinated by American culture’s dismissal and dependence on homemaking and homemakers, and inspired by her own personal heritage, the generations of women in her family who managed the domestic sphere without recognition. She aspires to elevate these historically female private spaces that have long been dismissed as unimportant, though in reality are places where family and identity are created and defined. She often draws inspiration from memories of her own grandparents’ home and, after becoming a parent herself, she has found inspiration through returning to the literature of her childhood and the memories of these imagined narratives.
Recent solo exhibitions include Becky Suss: The Dutch House, ICA Chattanooga, TN, US (2024), travelling to: The Baker Museum, Naples, FL, US (2024-25); Cheekwood Museum, Nashville, TN, US (2025); Becky Suss/Wharton Esherick, Fleisher/Ollman, Philadelphia, USA, travelled to: Wharton Esherick Museum, Malvern, USA (2018-2019); Becky Suss, ICA Pennsylvania, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA (2015). Group exhibitions include To Begin Again: Artists and Childhood, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, USA (2022-2023); New Grit: Art & Philly Now, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA (2021); Taking Space: Contemporary Women Artists and the Politics of Scale, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, USA (2021).
Her work is part of many public collections, including The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art, Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL; Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA; The Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada.