Susan McDonald is an American artist based in London and Miami. Her early calligraphy-infused work was influenced by her time living and working in China and Japan in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Speaking neither Mandarin or Japanese, she experienced how challenging communication can be when there is no common formal language at our disposal. It was her search for a way to truly effectively communicate that inspired her early body of work. McDonald first painted with sumi-e, the Japanese black ink, using calligraphic techniques on heavy cotton watercolour paper. In her early work, she explored the use of single circular brush strokes (ensos) to express emotion and experience. As her work developed, she began to introduce a wider variety of abstract and symbolic strokes. She came to realise how formal language can inhibit our imagination and expression, and found the more abstract the stroke, the more authentic and heartfelt the communication. Her early ink paintings display a sustained minimalist strength, where one or two central elements occupy pure white space. In these works McDonald captures the essence of Paul Klee’s comment, as she indeed “takes the line for a walk”. The revealing gesture is of crucial importance to understanding the work, because it translates physical movements and signs into one silent, contemplative moment on paper. McDonald’s recent work challenges the communicative limitations of our technological age, where the soundbite has replaced profound communication. She dwells on how these restrictions affect the free spirit and our ability to share the depth of our feelings and experiences. We say more and more, but express less and less. Does this mean that human beings exist and communicate at a more superficial level than their heart requires? Her recent work, using paint and multimedia on board, addresses these issues by exploring instead the depth and complexity of the natural world. She uses symbols and natural materials to speak poetically about irreversibility, the now and the cycle of life. The message is about understanding and surrendering to the constancy of change. In her more recent paintings, McDonald integrates elements of nature, frequently incorporating home grown cultures of bacteria and yeast. Her work includes organic materials that form a powerful mosaic of texture, density and weight to express the language of the soul. Quietly and subtly she raises profound questions about how we have evolved; how imagination and expression have always been stifled by language; and how technology currently constrains our ability to express our innermost feelings. McDonald’s use of symbols allows her to muse on possibility, awareness, humanity and even life, decay and death, presenting a personal tribute to the hidden depths of the human spirit. There is a meditative quality to all of McDonald's work. As she dives beneath the surface and restrictions of language and communication, a moment of quiet reflection is revealed, both as a respectful gesture for the viewer and as a veiled peek into Susan McDonald's presence of mind.