Complex, Rich Designs by Francisca Sutil

The work of Chilean artist Francisca Sutil is characterized by its superb construction and unique contemplative qualities.  When approaching her paintings, the viewer is immediately captivated by the hues and texture. Sutil intends no specific content in her paintings. She wants viewers to respond honestly to her abstractions and uses her work to provoke emotions, which in turn encourage reflection and meditation. The technique she uses is also integral to the experience.

Her latest work consists of compositions comprised of various layers of pigmented gesso applied with a palette knife and topped with a layer of varnish. This approach produces a remarkable luminosity and sensual tactile quality on the canvas that further manipulates the viewer's sensations.

Sutil has received numerous grants and awards such as Fellowship, Southern Methodist University, Dallas; Drawing Center (Paper Conservation), New York; Artists Space, New York, among others.  She was also commissioned to complete a series of 12 paintings for a private chapel in Santiago, Chile. She was born in Santiago in 1952.  In 1977 she moved to New York where she received an M.F.A. from Pratt Institute in 1981. Since 1992 Sutil lives and works in Santiago.

"I traveled for one year after my exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago in 2006. It was an introspective and solitary journey in that I set for myself to try to understand western painting more deeply. The art that touched me the most were paintings of Siena from the 13th Century and the entire Renaissance because of their direct colors, clean nature, and the intimate and close character when in small formats. What I remember most about the paintings of the 15th Century are not the topics, but the dialogue between the colors - the gold, the vermilions, and the blues. I remember the movement of the colors.

When I returned to my studio, I had surely internalized all the above and started in a natural form that was new to me. I prepared small canvases and experienced a more direct relationship closer to the table, something different from what occurs with the paintings of grand format. In addition to the verticality and horizontality of these paintings developed between August 2007 and December 2008, another prospective fruit of the undercross appears generating a third space."- Francisca Sutil

More information about this artist can be found at http://www.nohrahaimegallery.com

Source: The Norah Haime Gallery