Su Knoll Horty is an abstract painter whose artwork, through color and form, evokes an emotive experience for the viewer. As part of a lineage of modernist and contemporary artmaking, her paintings reference the simple and pure geometry of non-objective abstraction, the atmosphere of color field theory, and the element of chance found in abstract expressionism.

As a practitioner, Su uses a variety of mediums and techniques, bright colors, and compositional strategies to explore the materiality of painting. She begins a canvas with colors inspired by nature, random places, or other artists’ paintings, whatever catches her eye, stirs her curiosity, or challenges her. Su often draws lines on the canvas, creating a structure of geometric spaces that interact with organic and fluid movements of paint. By placing color next to color and then finding the intricate gradations between them, the spatial dimensions and atmospheric elements of the painting comes into focus.

The sensation of color, the thrill of creating, and the surprise of abstraction are what drives Su to paint. The intention in her practice is to engage the viewer on a visceral level, through the lushness of color, a purity of form, and passion and exuberance she feels when she makes art.

In 2012, Su completed the CE Core Curriculum Program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Pafa). Su continues to study with Abstract teachers, Kassem Amoudi at Pafa, and Peter Bonner at The Art Students League of New York. Su has been published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Wild Roof Journal and The Woven Tale Press literary and visual arts magazines as well as interviewed on ArtWatch radio.  She received an Honorable Mention in the Visionary Art Collective online exhibition, Finding Sanctuary, 2021, a 3rd Place award in The ArtList September Artist of the Month contest, 2019. She also received an Award of Merit from Manhattan Arts International in the online exhibition of The Healing Power of Art, 2019. Su is a member of the Philadelphia Sketch Club and received two Honorable Mention awards for her entries in the Absolutely Abstract shows, in 2012 and 2013, as well as being a juror in the 2015 Absolutely Abstract show. Su exhibits regularly and has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows, including The Biggs Museum of American Art, the Hamptons Virtual Art Show with Bluestone Fine Art Gallery, SOMA NewArt Gallery in Cape May, New Jersey, Hardcastle Gallery in Centreville, Delaware and The Delaware Contemporary. Her work is held in the Camden County Art Bank in New Jersey and in numerous private collections in the United States and Mexico.

Su Knoll Horty was represented by Bluestone Fine Art Gallery in Old City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 2013 until their closing in 2020 (due to Covid). From 2012 until 2019, Su displayed her paintings in Senator Chris Coons’ Washington, D.C. office.