ABOUT
Fan Su (1994, China) creates immersive installations -– that utilize glass alongside stockings, chiffon, rope, video, sound and other materials – to explore habitually suppressed and traumatic histories of the (Asian) female body.
Her ephemeral installations, which envision the body and the skin as penetrable surfaced membranes, are merged with actions of dissecting, cutting, sewing, stretching and impaling. Through guiding and immersing the viewer into the spaces, Su’s work invites viewers to consider an agonized female body that has been endlessly manipulated, reshaped and rebuilt under social control. By redrawing the viewer’s conception of body and parts, these works unzip the body from its cultural residue and unfold what lies below the surface. Ultimately, Su asks, “what is a body?”,”what do our bodies carry?”
Fan Su (1994, China) currently lives and works in Florida. Su received her MFA in glass in 2021 from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Su has held residencies and fellowships from Peter Bullough Foundation, STARworks and RISD. Her second solo show “Unfold the Body” will open in Columbus, Ohio in 2022.
2021 MFA, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
2017 BFA, Columbus College of Art and Design
2015 Oil Painting, Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts (ongoing)
SELECTED RESIDENCIES & AWARDS
Artist in Residence, Peter Bullough Foundation, Winchester, VA, 2022
Artist in Residence, Mother's Milk, Newton, KS, 2022 (forthcoming)
Residency/Internship, STARworks, Star, NC, 2022 (forthcoming)
Fellowship, RISD, 2020-2021
Fellowship, RISD, 2019-2020
Excellent Awards, the STEAM Factory, 2018
Cum Laude, CCAD, 2017
Deans List, CCAD, 2017
Presidents List, CCAD, 2016 & 2017
CCAD Trustees’ scholarship, 2016
CCAD Portfolio scholarship, 2016
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022, Unfold the Body (SOLO), Skylab Gallery, Columbus, OH (forthcoming)
2017, Filter, Acock Gallery (SOLO), Columbus, OH
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021
The Gender Half Truth, Ramboya Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Rhode Island School of Design Glass Triennial, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI
Body As a Surface (MFA Thesis Exhibition ), RISD Museum, Providence, RI
Embodied Memories, Online Exhibition, Rhode Island School of Design
Revealing the Surface, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI
2018
Religion COMPAS Visual Arts, the STEAM Factory, Columbus, OH
Chrome, Beeler Gallery, Columbus, OH, curated by Tim Rietenbach
2017
YOUNG HEARTS 6: The Color of Love, Sean Christopher Gallery, Columbus, OH
Chrome, Acock Gallery, Columbus, OH, curated by Tim Rietenbach
2016
Noves Histories, OHIO ART LEAGUE 2016 Spring Juried Exhibition, Urban Arts Space, OH
Closer, Beaton Gallery, OH
In need of an audience, Beaton Gallery, OH
The Little Free Library, Byers Gallery, OH
Chrome, Columbus, OH, curated by Tim Rietenbach
2015
"Hand Collection", Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Shaan' Xi, China
"Drawing", Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, Shaan' Xi, China
"Grad Show 2021." RISD Museum Publications. Summer 2021.
Interview, CCAD Stories, Session 2: 2016-2017.