Vivian Suter (born 1949) is an Argentine-Swiss painter.
Early life
Suter was born in Buenos Aires. Her mother,
Elisabeth Wild, was a noted collage artist. At the age of 12, Suter moved to Basel, Switzerland with her family.[1]
Career
In the 1970s she exhibited in a group show at Stampa gallery in Basel, Switzerland.[2] In 1981, she was part of a group exhibition at the
Kunsthalle Basel.[2] In 1982 she moved to a former coffee plantation in the rainforest of
Panajachel,
Guatemala.[3][4][5] Suter attracted little critical attention between until 2011, when the curator
Adam Szymczyk contacted her to recreate the 1981 group show at the Kunsthalle Basel.[2] Since 2011 she has held numerous significant solo shows in European and North American galleries and museums.[2] Vivian Suter has been awarded the
Swiss Grand Award for Art / Prix Meret Oppenheim 2021 by the
Federal Office of Culture.
Suter paints in a wall-less open air studio attached to her home.[6] She has been known to use non-traditional materials in her paintings, such as fish glue, volcanic material, soil, botanical matter, and house paint, some of which are reflective of her local environment.[3][4]