Nature Meets Past in Bed Stuy Art Show Inspired by Walks During Pandemic (Photos)

“Ingenious” and “whimsical,” a recent visitor to Cosmic Nature, an exhibition of art by Paul Sue-Pat, called it.

Bed Stuy artist Paul Sue-Pat’s latest show reflects his past, including his childhood growing up in the mountains of Jamaica, and nature seen on walks during the pandemic shutdown.

Paintings and sculpture reference earth and sky. A tall painting is a totem because it points upward. Its patterns recall ones Sue-Pat designed long ago for fabric.

“This is going back,” he said, gesturing to the totem painting. “I always think life is like that. You go back and start over but you look at it in a different way when you go back to your past.”

Plants and sculptures made of resin and clay represent the earth. Orchids conjure the mountains where he grew up, and cactus the desert. A laser-cut lamp resembles a jellyfish.

A square yellow painting with a green leaf-like tip sticking out of the top of it recalls a seedling sprouting when the sun comes out, said Sue-Pat. Teardrop shapes on another painting could be “water, blood, rain,” he said. “All coming from above.”

“You go back to your childhood and you find yourself — in a way, your true self,” he continued. “You mix your experience as an older person to being a kid and then you understand it. When you get older, you realize why you’re attracted to certain things.”

Produced by the artist and 2AC Space, his Alice Court gallery, Cosmic Nature is located at 449 Nostrand Avenue in a gallery space above the restaurant and bar Bunny. It is open by appointment through this Friday, August 14.

[Photos by Susan De Vries]

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