New Handmade Paper Paintings and Drawings

Tiffany Bell

Francisca Sutil began working with handmade paper in 1978. Since that time, her work has developed from a style derived from qualities inherent in the medium to one more involved with formal and pictorial concerns associated with abstract painting. From 1978 to 1982, Sutil exploited the earthiness of paper pulp and the organic process of papermaking to create metaphoric, almost representational works of geological formations. From 1983 to 1985, in a series titled Forces, she maintained a connection with natural phenomenon but in abstract works that investigated the relationships between various forms and colors. Brightly colored and full of interlocking shapes, these works emphasize the push and pull of contrasting hues and the balance of various forms. They have a strong decorative and sensuous appeal.

Sutil’s recent work represents another change in direction. In darker, somber colors, the works are more meditative. Window appears to be transitional; it marks the passage from the use of bright, abstract shapes seen on the left to a darker, brooding space beyond on the right. In the majority of the new pieces too, her forms take on an iconic look. She focuses our attention on a single, simplified image centered within a rectangular ground.

Sutil describes the images in her new work as evolving subconsciously from objects she observed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She spent hours there mainly in the rooms of ancient and primitive art. Although she was not immediately aware of it, the form in the three pieces entitled Tumbler relates to a small Egyptian vessel she remembers seeing. The image in Leader could similarly be derived from the profile of an Egyptian statue and Pillar is obviously associated with ancient columns. Sutil’s titles, applied after the works were finished, show her awareness of these associations.

Sutil initially developed these simple, abstract images in drawings. Working with pastel on small sheets of colored, handmade paper, she explored many shapes and images in various colors. These drawings form the basis of her larger paper pieces yet there is no direct correspondence between the two formats. In the large paper pieces, Sutil works intuitively to create the exact shape and colors of her image with one aspect generating another.
           
The changes in Sutil’s recent work parallels a general tendency in abstract art away from an emphasis on formal concerns toward work that is more explicitly evocative of content. Grids have disappeared to allow for curving, expressive shapes and flatness has given way to full, atmospheric space. Sutil’s recent work bears similarly to that of artists who employ images which appear referential but remain ambiguous in meaning. Like a number of young painters and sculptors, she has sought inspiration from primitive or archaic art to find forms and images that suggest a primal or universal meaning. Although the form in the Tumbler series might derive from an Egyptian vase, the reference is not specific or direct. This image could exist in any culture, for instance, yet its irregular, nonsymmetrical outline suggests an association with an older, nonmechanical era. Sutil has enlarged this image making it into a modern icon. Ceremony, the largest piece included in this group, is less iconic but seems to refer similarly to universal, eternal themes. On the one hand, its central ovoid form is womblike suggesting the beginning of life; on the other, the composition is divided in the center by a long horizontal suggesting a landscape full of the yellow light of early morning sun. As such, Ceremony is a celebration of beginnings.

Sutil conceives of her large paper pieces as paintings. As described, she shares the concerns of contemporary abstract painters and her work is comparable. Her paper pieces are certainly more monumental than drawings, the term usually associated with paper. The differences between oil painting and Sutil’s paper medium, however, are fundamental and important. Whereas oil paint can be a translucent quality allowing for a space that can be looked into, handmade paper has a tactile look that is more opaque. One never loses a sense of the surface texture. Sutil’s colors too have a clarity and intensity not often achieved with paint. Here, the color and the paper are practically one and the same. As a result, Sutil’s images have a definite material presence that conditions the ambiguity of their subject. They make these images seem real.

Francisca Sutil: New Handmade Paper Paintings and Drawings
Nohra Haime Gallery, New York
January, 1987