Susan Maddux builds her sculptural works from an unusual starting point: the painted canvas itself. Trained as a textile designer and shaped by a family history steeped in craft, she treats canvas less like a flat surface and more like fabric to be cut, layered, and folded into three-dimensional form. Her pieces frequently take on the shape of draped cloaks or garments left hanging after use, a visual language that draws directly on her Hawaiian upbringing and Japanese ancestry. Some works carry conceptual titles rather than descriptive ones, hinting at moods or states rather than literal subjects, while others reference historical clothing forms that once served practical, protective purposes.
Technically, Maddux works with acrylic paint applied to canvas, then reinforced with archival adhesive, batting, and occasionally jute, building up thick, repeated folds that hold their shape as freestanding relief. She often scales her stacked compositions to match human proportions, so that even fully abstract arrangements retain a bodily, almost architectural presence on the wall. The recurring folds explore a tension between rigidity and pliability, and between what is tucked away and what is left exposed to the eye. Following a residency at RONDO in Mexico City, she has begun introducing new materials and patterning into the work, extending a practice already rooted in more than two decades of professional studio experience.
More info: Website, Instagram.
in Bahia.