EXHIBITIONS

ANDREA SULZER | see through simple. Installation image. On view through June 23rd. PHOTO CREDIT: Luc Demers.

ANDREA SULZER
see through simple
May 18th - June 23rd, 2024

Andrea Sulzer’s paintings are profound.

Her most recent work is a master class in Sulzer-ease. Each piece exudes a palpable confidence and calm. Her palette is bold, nuanced and stunningly integrated with a deft balance of hard and soft. Driven by a sense of discovery and wonder, these works invite the viewer in to awe.

In a recent conversation, Sulzer said, “Painting always seemed so limitless to me, whereas paper has a finite workability. So much of my process is about trying to find limits for myself. I love taking something that feels so open and having it pull itself together. I need to find delight in what I’m doing. A need for discovery drives the work, as well as a sense of freedom, surprise, and wonder.”

Checklist available upon request.


EXHIBITION IMAGES


A Note About Process …

Andrea Sulzer’s paintings begin on large makeshift stretchers – rough-hewn structures created from 2x4’s - the canvas stapled to the surface. For Sulzer, it’s important to see the edges of the surface while she’s painting. This offers her the freedom to move through the process with a feeling of discovery. Once a painting is formally stretched, it feels finished, only leaving room for subtle refinements.

A printmaker at heart, Sulzer builds each painting through a simultaneously thoughtful and spontaneous process of layering. She intentionally uses a lightweight canvas so the surface feels more permeable, allowing the color to be literally embedded inside the fibers of every piece.

Each painting begins with a thin wash of acrylic, wetting the canvas and starting intentionally on the back, then wetting the front to wick the color through the surface from back to front. Next, she applies three layers of clear gesso to the front of the canvas to fix the surface and prepare it for the addition of vinyl paint. Most often, she intends for the vinyl paint to go on cleanly, with sharp edges.

Sulzer chooses to work with raw canvas and clear gesso for its likeness to newsprint, allowing white to be a color within the work, rather than the ground. She occasionally uses white gesso under the vinyl paint in specific sections to make the color pop even more.

In a recent conversation, Sulzer said, “Painting always seemed so limitless to me, whereas paper has a finite workability. So much of my process is about trying to find limits for myself. I love taking something that feels so open and having it pull itself together. I need to find delight in what I’m doing. A need for discovery drives the work, as well as a sense of freedom, surprise, and wonder.”


BIO

Andrea Sulzer studied Fine Arts at Smith College, received a B.A. in French from New York University, and Master’s degrees from Columbia University (Education), and the University of Maine (Forest Biology). After working as an instructor of English as a second language, a lab instructor in plant physiology, a field ecologist, and a scientific illustrator, in 2004 she received her M.F.A. from Glasgow School of Art. 

Sulzer has been awarded individual artist fellowships from Maine Arts Commission, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, among others. 

Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in public and private collections including Portland Museum of Art, Bates College Museum of Art, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Colby College Museum of Art, Fidelity Investments, and SYZYGY – JoAnn Hickey Collection. 


PRESS

Andrea Sulzer and the art of intuition
by Mark Wethli
June 5th, 2024
Two Coats of Paint

“Highly regarded for over 20 years for her richly detailed drawings, prints, sculptures, and public art commissions, this show marks Sulzer’s first major excursion into painting on canvas. She approached the new medium with some trepidation, knowing that for herself she would have to overcome the conventional notion of painting as an opaque medium entirely covering its support. Not surprisingly she decided to work on an open ground, as if she were drawing, to allow herself the space required for her mercurial process to unfold free of the obligation to “finish” a painting in the traditional sense. As a result, the work in this show has the provisional and open-ended quality of sketchbook pages, which belies its complex development and careful execution even as it suggests something private made public, fostering a sense of intimacy.” - Mark Wethli, Two Coats of Paint

ANDREA SULZER. deeper than the sea. 43” x 40”. Acrylic and vinyl paint on canvas. 2023. PHOTO CREDIT: Luc Demers