Sue Williams @ David Zwirner, NY
Sep 12, 2008 by
 One of two openings this evening at David Zwirner, “Project for the New American Century”, features new paintings by artist Sue Williams. The gallery, alive with an upper-crust of art appreciators and clover colored bottles of Heineken, was the starting point of an evening of rather mediocre openings especially in contrast to the buzz last week. Needless to say, I admire Sue’s most recent body of work and am particularly drawn to the framed studies/smaller sized works on acetate (one which is shown above). In close observation, its obvious that while subjectively similar to the larger-scale paintings on canvas, the smaller works have a greater sense of color and a more skilled handling of the objects floating within the frame. I really enjoy her “orifices” and allusions to exploding human form. The larger paintings, all except one with a muted/subdued palette, featured the same barrage of body parts and household items but in my opinion her style of super flat painting lends itself to the smooth, almost glass-like surface of acetate. Where form meets function, the acetate allows the colors of the paint to float on the […]</p>
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Sue Williams-Country First, 2008, Ink and acrylic on acetate (Courtesy of David Zwirner)
One of two openings this evening at David Zwirner, “Project for the New American Century”, features new paintings by artist Sue Williams. The gallery, alive with an upper-crust of art appreciators and clover colored bottles of Heineken, was the starting point of an evening of rather mediocre openings especially in contrast to the buzz last week. Needless to say, I admire Sue’s most recent body of work and am particularly drawn to the framed studies/smaller sized works on acetate (one which is shown above). In close observation, its obvious that while subjectively similar to the larger-scale paintings on canvas, the smaller works have a greater sense of color and a more skilled handling of the objects floating within the frame. I really enjoy her “orifices” and allusions to exploding human form. The larger paintings, all except one with a muted/subdued palette, featured the same barrage of body parts and household items but in my opinion her style of super flat painting lends itself to the smooth, almost glass-like surface of acetate. Where form meets function, the acetate allows the colors of the paint to float on the surface, seamless and without note of stroke.
The exhibition is on view until October 25th and while not one of my favorites currently in Chelsea, the show is a must see for anyone who enjoys the work of artists who participate within this genre of painting.