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Suzan Frecon at Lawrence Markey - New York … the work of the abstract artist invites interpretation

Art in America, Dec, 2003 by Joe Fyfe

Suzan Frecon's abstractions appear to draw from the deep recesses of world culture. The works shown here--all oil on linen, with one exception--seem as willing to converse with traditional crafts as with other contemporary paintings, reminding one of such things as tanned leather, laquerware and ceramic glazing. The grounds, which appear rubbed on or, at other moments, rapidly brushed on, alternate between matte and lustrous. The thin paint was most likely applied while the painting was laid flat, then left to dry, leaving a burnished-looking veneer.

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The work in the show was divided between two architectonic abstractions of medium size (87 3/8 by 54 inches) and three curvilinear abstractions: one very large (108 by 87 3/8 inches) and one medium (44 1/2 by 36 inches) and one slightly smaller (36 by 29 1/8 inches). The largest painting, untitled, double red curved, made from two horizontally abutted panels, features a pair of fat, downward-turned crescent shapes. As in the other curvilinear paintings, the curves appear to have been plotted slowly, by hand and eye, without mechanical help and seem to have gotten sharper by the defining revisions of paint layers and, perhaps, sanding. The two shapes, one the color of burnt turmeric and the other of terra-cotta, quietly vibrate against the ballpoint-ink-blue background. It's hard not to think of fragments of a moon hanging low in a dark desert sky. This crepuscular quality is more pronounced in four part composition, a collection of abstracted arches and a cupola shape. Frecon seems to enjoy repainting her emblematic imagery to the point where overall flatness is distorted by the inherent illusionism of layered transparent oil. In the rectilinear tunc, the shapes have been repainted to the point where they actually seem to bend the surface, like a slipped or dented-in floorboard.

For all its formal restraint and devotion to craft, Frecon's work projects a surprising sense of lightness. Adamantly present but also dreamlike, her paintings offer a soulful respite from our fragmented present.

Suzan Frecon at Lawrence Markey - New York … the work of the abstract artist invites interpretation

Art in America, Dec, 2003 by Joe Fyfe

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