Suzy Kopf
Bow and Arrow
February 7 – March 1, 2020
Between 1947 and the early 1970s, real-estate developers the Levitt Brothers built more than 140,000 houses in towns they created—in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico—all of which they named Levittown. Suzy Kopf was inspired by two trips she made to Puerto Rico’s Levittown, a suburb of San Juan, both pre- and post-Hurricane Maria. Known amongst midcentury enthusiasts, Levittown, Puerto Rico’s well-preserved homes are both a testament to the United States’ ongoing colonialism of the Caribbean and a cross-cultural version of the decaying American Dream of homeownership for the masses. Through her watercolors, oil paintings, and sculpture, Kopf asks her viewers to scrutinize these structures for their problematic origins.
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Originally from Silicon Valley, CA, Suzy Kopf was a resident of NYC for eight years and currently lives and works in Baltimore, MD. She completed her MFA in studio art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2016, and holds a BFA from Parsons and a BA in art history from Eugene Lang College. She is the recipient of numerous residency fellowships, including Kala, The Studios at Mass MoCA, Playa, VCCA, Byrdcliffe, Hambidge, Elsewhere, and the Vermont Studio Center, among others. She has received a Design History Society Travel Grant, as well as several research grants to support her practice. Kopf is a cofounder of the Gowanus Swim Society, a Brooklyn, NY-based art collective. In addition to her own studio practice, Kopf is the Director of Sales and Marketing for BmoreArt, a regional arts publication and website. She also teaches watercolor painting and museum studies at Johns Hopkins University and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
