Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York is pleased to present Inner Weather, a series of new works by Susan Dory. In her sixth solo exhibition with the gallery, Dory continues her long-standing investigation into interconnectivity and perception through a dynamic interplay of color, transparency, and layered form.
In Inner Weather, Dory’s biomorphic and linear shapes congregate and reorganize in intricate, structured patterns. Each composition emerges from color: this series centers on radiant reds, oranges, and yellows, tones that the artist describes as an act of optimism and hope. Dory has also introduced more translucent pigments into her process, combining acrylic paint with a transparent varnish to produce a luminous, “seeing through” effect that suggests movement and transformation.
Working in a studio suffused with natural light, Dory is attuned to the shifts of shadow and reflection that traverse her workspace throughout the day. As sunlight rakes across her canvases—laid flat on sawhorses—shadows distort and reform, leaving traces that she translates into painted form. These ephemeral impressions of light and negative space become an integral part of her compositions, transforming fleeting environmental moments into lasting visual structures.
Furthermore, Dory draws on the irregular geometries of gerrymandered maps, expanding them into a broader meditation on impermanence. These shifting boundaries along with the movement of light and shadow serve as markers that anchor an ongoing inquiry into the temporary states that define our experience. Each painting becomes an artifact of this investigation: a singular object that compresses months of decision-making, revision, and fleeting perception into a single encounter. Unlike a film or novel that unfolds over time, Dory’s paintings offer its entire history at once, revealing the accumulation of moments that brought it into being.
Dory’s meticulous layering process creates both a physical and temporal depth. Each layer acts as a record of time, allowing viewers to peer through one form and into another, evoking the constant flux of perception. The resulting surfaces are at once pristine and tactile, inviting contemplation on how memory, observation, and sensation continuously overlap. For Dory, the layered compositions in Inner Weather serve as repositories of experience—a visual metaphor for the fluid nature of temporal landscapes.
Susan Dory was born in Oklahoma City, OK and currently works and resides in Seattle, WA. She studied at Iowa State University in Ames, IA where she received a Bachelor’s of Arts. Dory has received both national and local awards including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, the Netty Award, the Willard R. Espy Foundation Artist-In-Residence Fellowship and the Ballinglen Art Foundation Fellowship in Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland. Dory’s works have been featured in The Seattle Times, Art in America and Blouin Art Info. Her work is held in numerous public collections including The Tacoma Art Museum, Ballinglen Museum of Contemporary Art, the U.S. Embassy and the Seattle Arts Commission Collection.
