Throwing Shade | Supremacist Lace Flags

Throwing Shade | Supremacist Lace Flags | Susan Hensel Projects.

One of the most interesting things about making art is unexpected discoveries.  I work in a highly technical realm, with computers and computer-aided devices, yet I work very intuitively.

The NEW  Supremacist Lace Flag series was initially inspired by my love of geometric form and my love of lace.  An odd combination, perhaps.

For as long as I have been a practicing artist, I have returned over and over again to the calm, predictability, and subtle tensions of geometric forms. I like containing circles and spheres within wireframe cubes. I like playing with perceptions of inner and outer planes, confusing the eye with color choices.

For as long as I can remember, I have also been fascinated with the role light plays in how artwork performs.  Certainly, without light, there is no color.  Without light, there are no shadows and no way to see three dimensions. But I have also been fascinated with transmissibility.  Light can be fully, partially, or minimally blocked by materials.  Transparency, translucency, opacity!  Ah, such lovely words!  And wonderful allusions.

I began the series thinking ahead to an exhibition I have in 2022.  I wanted to make work that would activate the space overhead. So, I began to think of these flags as hanging one behind another, in a procession.  They began to cast shadows and allude to grim political times of war and oppression!  They not only cast dramatic shadows, but they cast shade, revealing the inherent deceit of calm predictability the geometry seemed to promise! WOW!  Like I said, discoveries! The lies of supremacy always cast dark shadows!