Sue Grace’s work reflects the dynamic forces of our daily lives—collisions, reversals, and affirmations—expressed through shape, color, and the shifting nature of the psyche. Her paintings explore the inner life, particularly gender, through the juxtaposition of biomorphic and geometric forms, the interplay between obstructions and flow, and anatomical shapes inspired by the female body. Marks and layers cross over one another, mimicking the regenerative nature of skin. She strives to balance the emotional depth of the inner world with the materiality of paint.

Painting, to Grace, is a puzzle—like the Rubik’s Cube we played with as children—where the rectangular picture plane presents a challenge to manipulate composition, figure, and ground in order to create a dynamic visual language that reflects the improvisations and decisions of daily life. She works primarily with traditional paint on various supports, often in series, to fully develop ideas and maintain a continuous flow of creation.

Her approach is improvisational: she begins with marks, shapes, or color choices, each contributing to the evolving language within the piece. The relationship between figure and ground is central, constantly adjusted in a push and pull until the composition feels resolved. Her tools range from brushes and hands to collage materials and drips, all of which bring unique textures and energy to the work.

Grace has exhibited in notable venues including Hillyer Art Space (Washington, D.C.), McLean Project for the Arts (Virginia), the Workhouse Arts Center (Virginia), Target Gallery (Virginia), Crossroads Gallery (Virginia), and Northern Virginia Community College. In 2020, she was the featured artist for the Georgetown Lombardi Arts and Humanities Program. Her work is held in private collections across New York, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, California, as well as in London, England.

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