An exhibition bringing together nearly 500 paintings would usually be far too much – except for Vivian Suter. Suter has a singular working method and an equally distinctive way of displaying her art, which first drew attention when she was featured at Documenta in Kassel, Germany, in 2017. At the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, as she does at every invitation to exhibit, Suter covered the tall, expansive walls with her unstretched canvases, hanging them above one another, often layered over each other as well. But if she stopped there, there would be no more than about 200 works on display. She therefore had rows of wooden racks constructed, where dozens more paintings hang, like sheets drying on monumental stands. As a result, it is possible to fully see only a few of the works, either because they are layered or due to the lack of distance.
The artist creates her works with sweeping gestures that cross or splash across the surface, marking it with parallel lines the width of a brush, or depositing curved shapes, sometimes roughly sketched, sometimes more finished and complete. The compositions are generally simple, but some are much more subtle and appear to have been reworked after an initial session. The degree of complexity, therefore, varies.
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