Suzanne Wright Solo Show

Central to The Alchemy of Equals is Wright’s feminist re-envisioning of iconic American monuments—traditionally masculine and patriotic symbols—from an alchemical perspective. In her Goddess Eye View and God’s Eye View series, Wright reinterprets the Washington Monument, a symbol of phallic power, as a space of resilience and equality. Aerial perspectives, informed by Washington D.C.’s “secret architecture” and Google Earth’s views, reveal cosmological alignments and zodiacs that cast new meanings on these monuments. This approach echoes the work of feminist artist Mary Beth Edelson, who sought to “reclaim the spiritual” by emphasizing symbols that challenge patriarchal and heteronormative assumptions.

In addition to her paintings, Wright introduces two sculptures titled Faggot Bundles, an exploration of the word “faggot” and its reclamation. These sculptures—cast branches arranged in mandala-like circles—reference the word’s 16th-century original meaning, “bundles of sticks,” used to describe senior women while creating powerful symbols of unity and resilience. Wright sees them as tributes to “the beautiful and courageous gay men I loved and lost,” transforming a once-derogatory term into a symbol of community. This work aligns with the practices of feminist artists like Harmony Hammond, whose art addresses queer identity and reclamation through material and form.

Another pivotal work, Feminist Alchemists (Pentagon), disrupts the Pentagon’s symmetry with vivid colors and geometric forms. Wright describes this piece as both an “activist intervention” and a “queering of architectural power.” Painted in vinyl flash paint, its layering of color and geometry suggests a form of spiritual resistance against one of America’s most recognizable symbols of power. Wright’s use of sacred geometry recalls af Hilma Af Klints and Martin’s visionary works, highlighting abstraction as a medium to explore beauty, identity, and empowerment.

The exhibition also includes Wright’s Disco Utopias series, a homage to the vibrant LGBTQ+ dance floors of the 1980s. Inspired by New York clubs like The Saint, these works reflect José Esteban Muñoz’s concept of “queer utopianism,” envisioning spaces of liberation and resilience. Paintings like The Palladium and The Saint echo the sensory pleasure and spiritual empowerment these venues offered, reminding us of Wright’s call for a cultural alchemy that transforms historical traumas into empowering spaces.

Entitled The Alchemy of Equals, Wright’s exhibition uses symmetry and sacred geometry as the “architecture of the universe.” Her use of geometric forms serves as both critique and invitation, encouraging viewers to perceive art as a site of personal and political transformation. Here, alchemy goes beyond mysticism, embodying what queer theorist Sara Ahmed describes as “willfulness” in resisting structures of marginalization. Wright’s work becomes a call for empowerment, suggesting that art can catalyze socio-political change and amplify marginalized voices.

Join Tappeto Volante on October 30 for the opening of The Alchemy of Equals, where Suzanne Wright’s visionary work invites us to consider feminist alchemy as a path to societal and individual liberation. This exhibition calls for a new engagement with history, symbols, and identity in the pursuit of equality and transformation.

Suzanne Wright is an artist and an assistant professor of painting at the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History. She earned her BFA at Cooper Union and MFA at the University of California San Diego and also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Wright’s paintings, drawings, and collages propose a contemporary "feminist alchemy", forging alternative frames of reference and symbology with new perspectives that attempt to lead us to a re-vitalized kind of perception, equality, and empowerment. Her exhibition record includes shows at Stephen Friedman Gallery (London), Wilding Cran Gallery (LA). Commonwealth and Council (LA) Luis De Jesus(LA), Stefan Stux (NY), Claire Oliver Gallery (NY), and a recent solo exhibition, “Gateways” at Tappeto Volante Projects (NY). She was awarded the Kraus Visiting Professorship in Painting and Drawing at Carnegie Mellon has taught at several universities in New York and Los Angeles, and was the Grant Wood Fellow in Painting (2019/20) at the University of Iowa. Wright was one of the co-founders of Fierce Pussy, and has been an active member of various AIDS and LGBTQ organizations, including ACT UP/New York, from 1989-1999. She has two upcoming shows in New York (Tappetto Volante) in 2024 and Los Angeles (Wilding Cran Gallery) in 2025.