A contemporary New York painter, Susan Sugar has, in her still life series, created a strikingly inventive modernist take on a traditional theme. Amaryllis, the fifth and most recent of the series, takes on the composition of classical still life. But the flowers suggest a sense of movement, almost as though still in the ground, swaying in a gentle breeze. The deep, saturated coloration of her forms contributes to this sense of gesture and movement, as do the almost abstract outlines in the lighter sections of the work.

With a master’s degree in architecture, Susan Sugar demonstrates an acute sense of structure and balance in all her work, evident here in the careful placement of vase and the almost invisible table on which it stands.

Ms. Sugar, who resides in New York City, paints each summer in Key West, Florida. In addition to her degree in architecture, she studied at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. She is a past winner of a Ucross Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at the Custom House Museum in Key West, the Isolde Gallery in Provincetown, The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Katonah Museum in Westchester County.

She has had solo exhibitions at the Nabi Gallery in New York City, and the Lucky Street Gallery in Key West.