Susan Shup



Susan Shup is an American artist based in Paris. She is a painter and also works in media and design; she explores the many-faceted life of an artist - self-promotion, physical appearance, timidity - and becomes part of her work through her playing out of roles as both subject and actor. Her stage is her atelier in the Parisian Marais, the “SHUPSHOP”; this workshop is also one of her preferred subject matters, the artist’s studio, factory or production company that she explores in her videos and paintings. “SHUPSHOP” is also her trademark for work which often crosses the sacred divide between art and commerce, lending itself to retail applications as “art product”.

Susan Shup mixes personal historical elements with those of art and pop culture, like Rock music and television, to create her witty and vibrant paintings and drawings. Shup's art has been featured in numerous international publications and has been included in many prestigious private and corporate collections.

My work is a kind of “painting out loud“. I've always written and kept drawing journals and I use this content as iconography. Music, especially Rock, is an important part of my life in the studio, and I like to not only record sound as spoken-word poetry but also to transcribe it directly with paint onto canvas, usually directly from the tube.

I use language in my painting in a dada-like “out of context” way, where the words are often treated abstractly rather than as a narrative; it’s more about the sound: DA … DA. But I like telling stories in some of the paintings, and they're usually stories about artists, or words referencing particular events. Perhaps the pop content of some of my work allows me the balance needed to work every day, to render as user-friendly what is essentially serious: painting.

Susan Shup
Susan Shup
Susan Shup
Susan Shup
Susan Shup

Susan Shup



Susan Shup is an American artist based in Paris. She is a painter and also works in media and design; she explores the many-faceted life of an artist - self-promotion, physical appearance, timidity - and becomes part of her work through her playing out of roles as both subject and actor. Her stage is her atelier in the Parisian Marais, the “SHUPSHOP”; this workshop is also one of her preferred subject matters, the artist’s studio, factory or production company that she explores in her videos and paintings. “SHUPSHOP” is also her trademark for work which often crosses the sacred divide between art and commerce, lending itself to retail applications as “art product”.

Susan Shup mixes personal historical elements with those of art and pop culture, like Rock music and television, to create her witty and vibrant paintings and drawings. Shup's art has been featured in numerous international publications and has been included in many prestigious private and corporate collections.

My work is a kind of “painting out loud“. I've always written and kept drawing journals and I use this content as iconography. Music, especially Rock, is an important part of my life in the studio, and I like to not only record sound as spoken-word poetry but also to transcribe it directly with paint onto canvas, usually directly from the tube.

I use language in my painting in a dada-like “out of context” way, where the words are often treated abstractly rather than as a narrative; it’s more about the sound: DA … DA. But I like telling stories in some of the paintings, and they're usually stories about artists, or words referencing particular events. Perhaps the pop content of some of my work allows me the balance needed to work every day, to render as user-friendly what is essentially serious: painting.

Susan Shup
Susan Shup
Susan Shup
Susan Shup
Susan Shup