Suter’s large, gestural canvases propose a colorful and style-free ode to the possibilities of painting

Sumptuously illustrated, this publication on the Argentine Swiss artist Vivian Suter (born 1949) offers an immersive approach to her painting practice. Based in Panajachel, Guatemala, since 1982, Suter works on her paintings both indoors and outdoors, allowing the natural elements of the subtropical ecosystem to permeate her work. Traces of rain, sunlight, flora and fauna often inhabit her unstretched canvases painted with swaths of color, expressing her close interaction with external factors and her break with the traditional notion of authorship. Her gestural works are the result of a daily physical and emotional relationship with the materials and the contingencies of nature in her immediate surroundings. Published to accompany her international touring exhibition, this monograph also documents Suter’s unique studio environment which is central to her practice, and is interspersed with the artist’s poetry, prose, songs and aphorisms.