The First Paintings

2001

Presented here are several paintings from 2001, the year after Glenn Suokko returned to painting following a fifteen-year hiatus. With still life painting as his model, he learned to paint in oils by attempting to realistically render small groups of kitchen items—pitchers, bowls, cups, fruits, vegetables—as his subjects.

“Still life painting as an art history genre greatly interests me. The work of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (French, 1699–1779), Giorgio Morandi (Italian, 1890–1964), and Sanyu (Chinese French, 1895–1966), are among the many artists whose works inspire me. In 2000, the year I had started to paint, I had seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York the survey exhibition of sixty-six works by Chardin. That show had a profound impact on me and certainly influenced my first forays upon my return to still life oil painting.”

An essential component to the still life paintings shown here is the representation of soft, warm light that surrounds and touches the objects. The light creates a sense of depth and conveys a spatial atmosphere that is an equally important element to the composition of objects. The paintings are small, and it is the intimacy of the canvas size combined with the way in which the objects are rendered, that Suokko hopes to offer a sense of quietude and gentleness, qualities that would later define his overall approach to painting.

All works shown are now in private collections.