Sue Strizek (BA Australian History Grad. Dip Ed) was a first-time exhibitor in the 2024 Lester Prize, having invested in daily art practice since 2023 that is energetic, unapologetic and intentional through pen, with pops of colour in acrylic or watercolour mediums. Born in the NSW outback town, Broken Hill, Sue moved to outback WA in 1996 after serving in the RAAF as an officer. Sue attended a community TAFE drawing class in Kalgoorlie, that saw her receive a ‘Highly Commended’ prize for her work on butchers’ paper, ‘Ink with Sticks’ (1997).
Sue describes her artistic practice as intense and, more often she works from her intuition.
"The magic of immediacy can fill me with an intensity that is transmitted to the paper. My pen drawings vary from sparse and pared back to a riot of suggested detail." Her 2024 Lester Prize finalist portrait “You Can Call me Viktor Stronger” attracted the judge's attention due to it's immediacy.
When painting on paper her palette work is at times brutal and this contributes to the texture of a work. Paper is flimsy, sometimes rough, coarse, and frail at the same time and this contributes to how her works are received by the viewer.
Drawing quickly and energetically with a pen, highlighting with colour sticks, Sue's fast method of drawing is pure instinct, brain and hands working in sync. The pen is jagged, with scratching’s and suggestions.