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BIO
Sue Graef (b. 1957, Philadelphia, PA) is a figurative landscape artist who creates vibrant and imaginative work. Graef was educated at Philadelphia College of Art, Tyler School of Art and Clemson University. The artist has participated in exhibitions at the Chihuly Collection Museum, St. Petersburg, FL; Imagine Museum St. Petersburg, FL; IDEA Museum, Mesa, AZ; District Arts Gallery, Frederick, MD; Art Miami Context, Miami, FL; The Palm Beach Show, FL; Twisted Track Gallery, Sacramento, CA; Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Tampa, FL; Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY; Affordable Art Fair, Austin, TX; Art Wynwood Miami, FL and the Hamptons Fine Art Fair, NY.

In 2025, Graef had her second solo exhibition, Urban Paradise, at The Artspace Gallery in the College of Southern Nevada. This opened with a talk to art students. Graef currently lives and works in Florida.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create vibrant figurative landscape paintings in acrylic on stretched canvas. Intense, bold and saturated color with dramatic compositions and playfully distorted perspectives make up my work. The patterns, shapes and color are an invitation to travel around the canvas and step into the image.

Painting is an escape from the real world into my own world of imagined urban, suburban and rural scenes. The idea is to make the places, people and things I paint somewhat recognizable, so the looker can relate but to step outside reality into an unusual and extraordinary image. I have an insatiable urge to communicate these images to others and so I continue.

CV
Sue Graef
b. 1957, Philadelphia, PA
Live and work in Clearwater, FL

EDUCATION
1983 B.S., General Studies, Clemson University
1975-8 Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
1974 Studio Classes, Philadelphia College of Art, Philadelphia, PA

SOLO AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2025 Urban Paradise, Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa, FL
2025 Urban Visions, The Artspace Gallery, College of Southern Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
2024 Paradise City, Chihuly Collection Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
2024 Planes, Trains, Automobiles and High Desert Hi-Jinks, Twisted Track Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2023 Artifact Gallery, New York, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY
2026 Affordable Art Fair, Austin, TX
2025 Art Miami Context, Miami, FL
2025 Affordable Art Fair, New York, NY
2025 All Art Works, Grand Rapids, MI
2025 The Palm Beach Show, Palm Beach, FL
2024 Graphic Worlds, Imagine Museum, St. Petersburg, FL
2024 Art Wynwood, Miami, FL
2023 Art San Diego, San Diego, CA
2023 Artclectic, Nashville, TN
2023 National Painting Exhibition of the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
2023 Hamptons Fine Art Fair, Southampton, NY
2023 Art Fusion Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
2023 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Tampa, FL
2023 Alliance for the Arts Annual All Florida Exhibition, Ft. Myers, FL
2022 District Arts Gallery, Frederick, MD
2021 Spectrum, Miami, FL
2019 Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Tampa, FL
2018 Coconut Point Art Festival, Estero, FL
1984 Summit Art Center, Summit, NJ

COLLECTIONS
Rosewood Residences at Lido Key Sarasota, FL
Price Waterhouse Coopers, Tampa, FL
Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA
Haegeumgang Museum, South Korea
Private collections throughout United States and Europe.

GALLERY REPRESENTATION
Steidel Contemporary, Lake Worth Beach, FL