SUSAN SWARTZ

PERSONAL PATH

SUSAN SWARTZ – PERSONAL PATH

November 29, 2017 – January 29, 2018
Marble Palace of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg

The spirituality of nature and painting as a contemplative process are the key themes addressed by the American artist Susan Swartz. To appreciate the meditative aura of her paintings a different mode of seeing is required. For her work neither articulates clearly defined themes nor elevates abstraction to the subject matter itself. Rather she interrogates the categories of beauty and aesthetics from her own deeply personal perspective. Swartz‘s paintings are the expression of the creative aspirations of an artist who challenges us to reflect fundamentally upon the dimensions and structures of our very existence.
After Salzburg, Koblenz and Budapest, St. Petersburg is now the fourth European location in which the American artist is staging her solo exhibition “Personal Path”. On view until January 29, 2018 in the State Russian Museum are 113 of her paintings.

“These paintings”, observes Alexander Borovsky in his catalogue essay, “are intended to evoke on our retinas scents, noises or even the rays of sunlight shimmering through the trees. If that does not sound altogether abstract, then this is because Swartz’s abstractions are truly extraordinary. They are closely bound to the senses, full of familiar optical, tactile and even acoustic elements.” Curator Dieter Ronte has described the work of Susan Swartz as the “visual mapping of her own soul”.

With the project “Susan Swartz – Personal Path”, the Foundation for Art and Culture is continuing to nurture one of its principal objectives, namely fostering intercultural dialogue, at a time and place in which the political situation serves to highlight the need for cultural bridges.