Suzette in New York. 2011
ABOUT SUZETTE
Suzette Huwae has been painting Strong Women for some time now, strong women drawn in colourful paint, oozing raw energy. Her style is Popart, she calls it
“Glamour with an Edge.”
“I graduated with honors on a first Teachers degree in Drawing and Painting at the University of Arts (HKU) in Utrecht, the Netherlands. I soon realised that I never had the ambition to be a teacher. My final graduation project at that time was about “Moluccan punishments,” I created various figures using different materials, with the message “Djangan marah aku” meaning “Don’t be angry with me. The frustration of not being able to talk about your emotions and not being allowed to be who you wanted to be. During my time at the academy, I drew my own child’s portraits in a very raw manner.The girl in (dirty painted) flower dress may smile, but behind that smile was a lot of suffering. it evolved into (Moluccan) punishments, executed in different objects, mixed media. It worked as therapy.. During the years my work started to get more mellow, not so dark anymore, but still a bit edgy, especially about women. I wanted to potray the fierce, beautiful woman, that was in me, I think you can see some traces of the expressive strokes and some sprinkles of rawness.
SUZETTE'S
STYLE & INSPIRATION
I moved from my hometown Apeldoorn to Amsterdam and used various opportunities to express my artistic skills in different ways, as to develop myself. I participated in Dutch TV shows (RTL5, Herman Den Blijker, Holland lit een tuin) and I decorated for theatres. (Van den Ende Productions) In the meantime my work developed my artwork into a more poparty style with very bright neon colors. However, I didn’t feel like I wasn’t realising my full potential so I decided to move to London to be part of the vibrant melting pot. I had exhibitions and was very inspired living there. My father passed away in 2012 that was a very difficult period in my life. I was depressed but i also had a lot of health issues. Allergies and complications skin, all sorts. I decided to go back to Holland, back to the known. After 8 years of living in London, I am back in Amsterdam and working as a freelance Artist & Artdirector.”“I like to make a statement about colourful, strong multicultural women. I want people tor recognise themselves in my work.
Popart Artists as Andy Warhol, Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami. Also Jackson Pollock, Francis Bacon, Rothko. Mostly Warhol, because it is glamourous and bold.Just like me ;-) “My style can be described as ‘glamour with an edge’. You will find lots of contrasts in my work, like thick strokes against delicate thin lines. Or I might use bold and thin lines at the same time. It can be realistic but also cartoonish. Expressive and fragile at the same time. Dark against light. I like to pay attention to these details. It needs to be unpredictable and exciting “Funky, edgy, sassy and colourful I like to use an international approach, which I translate as using bright colors, expressive strokes showing my view into the cosmopolitan world...” I get inspiration of listening to music. (eclectic taste) during painting: Big fan of Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, Pink Floyd, but also Jazz rock, and Symphonic Rock. Soul. 70s 80s 90s Travel, (also big cities) design, fashion magazines.
