Common People

Original Contemporary Mixed-Media Painting | 48 × 60 inches

Common People is a large-scale original mixed-media painting by contemporary artist Susan Washington, bringing classical beauty into the raw, expressive visual language of the modern city.

A monumental Greco-Roman figure dominates the composition, its sculptural features emerging through layers of distressed imagery, image transfers, silver leaf, and gestural mark-making. The predominantly black-and-white palette is punctuated by loosely scrawled pink handwriting, while the reflective qualities of the silver leaf introduce an unexpected sense of luminosity beneath the weathered surface.

The handwritten text draws from the song Common People by Pulp, adding a layer of cultural commentary to the collision of classical ideals and contemporary street culture.

Part of Washington's evolving Subway Sonnets series, this abstract figurative painting explores the intersection of permanence and impermanence, placing an idealized figure from antiquity against surfaces that suggest the passage of time and the accumulated marks of urban life.

At five feet tall, Common People is a substantial statement piece suited to contemporary residential interiors, hospitality environments, and architectural spaces.

Size: 48 × 60 inches (4 × 5 feet)
Medium: Mixed media on stretched canvas
Price: $5,500

Shipping to continental USA included in price. For international shipping please email susan@susanwashingtonfineart.com‍ ‍

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