Mysterious shapes of color
Suzan Frecon painting «form, color, illumination»
The American artist Suzan Frecon (*1941) has dedicated herself to the endeavor of painting over the pastfour decades. She feels that the ultimate achievement of her paintings would be the experience that theycould cause to the viewer. The exhibition has been installed together with the artist and is a collaborationwith the Menil Collection in Houston. After having been represented in group exhibitions at the Museum ofFine Arts Bern in 1990 and 1994, Suzan Frecon’s painterly oeuvre of the last ten years is currently shownin a concentrated overview.
Throughout her career Frecon has maintained a singular focus, dedicating herself to the process of painting. Through assiduous arrangements of color, form, and texture, she produces artwork that is visually stunning, but that also resonates on a philosophical level. In her own words, "I consider painting to be a high form of knowledge; it should be constructed so that, when successful, it will be illuminating and enlightening. . . . It should take you, as a viewer, outside of yourself, somewhere you haven't been before."
Incorporating the rectangular structure of the canvas in their composition, Frecon's oil paintings are large-scale arrangements of precisely balanced geometric forms. A range of earth reds dominates her palette, which also includes jewel-like tones of green, blue, indigo, and occasionally gold leaf. Although more gestural than her oil paintings, the watercolors are no less disciplined. Frecon's compositional elements are intensely allusive; in both mediums, however, color and form are never referential.
The exhibition will first be shown at the Menil Collection in Housten in spring 2008 and presents a selection of works which were carefully chosen with the artist.
