Vivian Suter

Vivian Suter, part of the Basel art scene since 1982, set up permanent residence in the heart of the Guatemalan jungle. From her studio located in Panajachel, next to Lake Atitlán, Suter’s work has evolved towards an ever-closer exchange with the natural environment.   

In this publication, with its marked sensibility, the canvases displayed in the Palacio de Velázquez, in the Retiro Park, take centre stage, hanging, stretcher-free, to strike up an immediate relationship with the architectural and natural space. Beyond showing the exhibition installation, the images refer more to the quality of the paintings, provoking something tactile, the pages awash with colour. This sensory unfolding is accompanied by a text written by Javier Payeras in which he reproduces a visit to the artist in her residency and workspace, crucial to her practice. They discuss family, spirituality, ways of life and resistance inside and outside controlled spaces of contemporary art. Furthermore, Manuel Borja-Villel conceives of Suter’s work as a rupture in the instrumental use of nature that characterises Western art; interaction and dialogue that confront classic genres and performance practices tied to abstraction.