Suzanne Jackson

A richly illustrated account tracing the full arc of contemporary painter Suzanne Jackson's life and multifaceted artistic vision.

First and foremost a painter, Suzanne Jackson has worked for six decades in a dizzying array of genres, including drawing, printmaking, poetry, dance, and theater design. Suzanne Jackson: What Is Love reveals Jackson's achievements as a leading and influential artist who has been in dialogue with her contemporaries, from Betye Saar and Emory Douglas to Senga Nengudi and Mary Lovelace O'Neal.

This wide-ranging book illuminates Jackson's work and its connections to nature, environmentalism, performance, feminism, and Black and Native traditions. It explores the way her innovative hanging acrylic works break the canvas; the role of dance and set design in Jackson's practice; and her trailblazing Los Angeles art space Gallery 32, which she ran from 1968 to 1970, and which became a focus for a circle of fellow emerging artists. The book also features artist dialogues between Jackson and Nengudi, Saar, Fred Eversley, and Richard Mayhew, as well as a conversation between Jackson and SFMOMA painting conservator Jennifer Hickey.

Suzanne Jackson (b. 1944, St. Louis) first moved westward with her parents to San Francisco, after which the family continued north to Yukon Territory. In a career spanning more than five decades, Jackson has worked experimentally across genres including drawing, painting, printmaking, bookmaking, poetry, dance, theater and costume design. Jackson works in Savannah, Georgia, where she has lived since 1996. She is represented by Ortuzar Projects, New York.

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publish Date: September 09, 2025
• Pages: 288
• Dimensions: 11.0 X 0.0 X 9.5 inches | 1.3 pounds
• Language: English
• Type: Hardcover
• EAN/UPC: 9780691261997
• BISAC Categories: Individual Artists - Monograph