‘The Mud Gives My Paintings a Unique Beauty’: Vivian Suter

This piece appears in the columns section of frieze 251, ‘Afterlife’

Lauren O’Neil-Butler Is evanescence something you think about while you’re painting?

Vivian Suter Yes, for example, when I’m painting here at my house in Panajachel, in the highlands of Guatemala, I’m always outside and under a tree, so the leaves will naturally fall on top of the works. Some stay stuck on but, in time, they might fall off. I also paint at my studio on the mountain – there’s a trail near my house with steps leading up to it. I’m always thinking about all the things that are happening in the world while I’m working – the fires, the inundations, everything – so, yes, impermanence is on my mind. Of course, I’m happy if a museum collects my art and conducts research on how to keep it fresh with their restoration team – that is always strange but nice – but I’m not thinking about durableness when I’m working.

LO-B So, the afterlife of your work is something you give thought to?

VS Yes, because the work always continues living, right? I let it out into the world, and it continues its destiny. I sometimes include soil in the paintings because I’m trying to show how the work happened in this place, with its specific climate and history. For me, this just feels like an obvious way to make art; it’s not something I’m trying to enforce, however. It’s my way of doing things that has evolved over time through working.

LO-B Have you noticed the effects of climate change where you live over the past 40 years or so? Have the trees or vegetation changed?

VS Yes, for sure. It is hotter and drier than before. But there are also more trees where I live, so it’s cooler than in the village and we have fewer flowers, too. I can’t grow vegetables, though: there’s just too much shade.

LO-B There were two strong hurricanes, in 2005 and 2010, that flooded your house and drenched your work in water and mud. Can you tell us what happened after the second one?

VS Yes, I found that most of my paintings were wet and muddy, just terrible. But, when they eventually dried off, I felt that the mud gave them a special beauty. It was then that I decided not to work against nature but, instead, to consider the leaves, and the dogs always walking over the work, and the mud as part of the painting and the process.

LO-B I’d love to hear more about how you’re incorporating that gesture into your shows, too. For instance, your 2023 solo exhibition at Secession, Vienna, ‘A Stone in the Lake’, featured more than 400 loose canvases hanging from the ceiling, but you also specified that you wanted a large door to be left open, to let in the street sounds, the air and the rain, if it came. It seemed like another way in which you were allowing the outside to permeate inside.

VS That show was special for a number of reasons: my mother was born in Vienna, so I often visited my grandparents there, and I have memories of my grandfather pointing out the Secession to me – he liked the building. But, to answer your question: I always prefer to show my work outside, so that the paintings can move around in the wind, as they did at documenta 14 in Athens [in 2017]. Most of the time, the galleries I show in don’t even have a window. However, when my current show, ‘Disco’, tours this summer from the Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia in Lisbon to the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, the skylight will be left open, so maybe the wind will come in.

I always prefer to show my work outside, so that the paintings can move around in the wind. Vivian Suter

LO-B Do you ever paint with materials from the forest? Do you use any of the plants for pigments?

VS I used to, but I’m not really into being ‘all natural’. I use paint from the hardware store here and fish glue that I prepare myself; it’s a major ingredient of my painting. Insects get stuck on the works because of the glue. I’m sorry that they do, but that’s how it is, because I always work outside. That’s where I find inspiration.

LO-B Have you always found this area and being outside inspirational, or was it more gradual?

VS When I moved here, it seemed like everybody else was going to Berlin, to have a studio in a cellar. I basically did the opposite. So, I was a bit worried. In the beginning, it was not easy for me. It took a long time for the art world to find me again. But it was so nice to work here that I couldn’t imagine anything different. I just kept going, even if it seemed there was no hope for an exhibition or anything else.

LO-B Did you want to leave the art world at that time?

VS Yes, I felt there was too much pressure, and I wanted to find my own path and not be too influenced by others.

LO-B I wanted to mention the catalogue that was co-published in 2023 by Secession and GAMeC, Bergamo, to coincide with your exhibitions at those institutions. It feels so personal.

VS I am happy you like it because it hasn’t had much attention. I also love it because it’s so personal. As you know, it’s full of photos from here that I sent to the designer, Sabo Day. It was such a nice collaboration with him.

LO-B The photo in the book of your grandson throwing rocks at the lake is beautiful; is that where the title of the show came from?

VS Yes, my son took that photo. Someone saw it and asked, ‘Is that the show’s invitation?’ And I thought, yes, it should be! And so, the photo became the title: ‘A Stone in the Lake’.

LO-B Do you paint by the lake?

VS No, though I used to. Now, there are too many people there. I like to be alone. I used to swim in the lake but not anymore, unfortunately: it’s really polluted. When I first came here, it was so nice. And then, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, the lake recovered because there was no traffic and no tourism.

LO-B Is the lake an important symbol in your work?

VS It is very important. I used to be able to see it from my mountain studio. But because I’ve planted too much bamboo to hold the soil there – and it’s grown so tall – now I can’t see anything. But nobody sees me either, which is the good part!

LO-B Do the paintings stay on the mountain to dry for a while?

VS Yes, they stay there and then they are carried down. I used to do it all myself. Now, I have a studio assistant that brings them down for me and also stretches them. I can’t do it anymore. There are two places that I normally work: in the mountain studio or here, at my house, under the mango tree where the ground is flatter. I’ve been painting there at night recently, under the moonlight. It’s lovely.

LO-B Do you paint at night on the mountain, too?

VS I often paint in the mountain studio until it gets dark. Sometimes, before I leave, I’ll have a quick look at the work with a flashlight, though I don’t always. It’s only the next morning that I can really see what I painted the day before. And then I figure out how to finish the painting. That’s always exciting but it can also give me sleepless nights – especially when I leave paintings outside in the rainy season. Then, I really suffer. I worry the paint will have washed away by the time I go back up.

LO-B Well, that brings us full circle back to impermanence! But, yes, I know the rain can be heavy there. Do you leave the works hanging up or flat?

VS They are basically leaning on a wall in the mountain studio. In that space, I mainly have paint and other stuff for working. Sometimes, I’ll leave a painting there because I think it belongs there and doesn’t need to come down the mountain. Those works are just for me.

This article first appeared in frieze issue 251 with the headline ‘Leave It on the Mountain’

Vivian Suter’s ‘Disco’ will be on view at Palais de Tokyo in the summer of 2025

^{Main image: Vivian Suter, ‘A Stone in the Lake’ (detail), 2023, installation view, Secession, Vienna. Courtesy: the artist and Gaga, Mexico City, Los Angeles; Gladstone Gallery, New York, Brussels, Seoul; Karma International, Zurich; Proyectos Ultravioleta, Guatemala City; photograph: Lisa Rastl / Secession}