American painter and draughtswoman, born in Buffalo, (New York). From 1962-67 studied at the Fine Arts School at Cornell University. 1964, Graduate studies at State University, New York. Moved to this city in 1969 and lived among a dedicated community of both young and established artists. She briefly assisted Nancy Graves and appeared in several performances by Joan Jonas. After an important period of experimentation with process art from 1969 to 1972 she painted her first early mature works depicting horses, for which she became known. In 1975 had her first solo-exhibition at the Gallery 112, Greene Street in New York. In December 1978 the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York mounted an exhibition entitled New Image Painting. Susan Rothenberg was part of this New Imagists Group. Rothenberg has said: " the horse is a way of not doing people, yet it is a symbol of people, a self-portrait, really". Fundamentally, her concerns, as in the art of Giacometti, are formal rather thematic. In 1980 participated at the Venice Biennale. In 1981, solo-exhibition at Basel Kunsthalle. In 1982, solo-exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. In 1971 married the sculptor Trakas, from whom separated in 1979. Later in 1989 she married Bruce Nauman.
