Artist on artist: Elisabeth Östin on Vivian Suter

The Silent Source

Elisabeth Östin’s paintings are often described as organic, with motifs resembling close-ups of nerve fibers or details from the plant kingdom, such as thorns or stems. She uses the titles of her works to guide the viewer onto a path that she finds fitting. Sometimes, she refers to impossible anatomies, such as “The Heart in the Wall”, “The Throat in the Trunk” or “The Tongue of the Shadow”. Östin is fascinated by the gap between spoken and painted language – a peculiar dimension that exists between what is expressed and what is perceived. One might describe it as obscurities or secrets. She highlights this gap in the title of her latest work, “The Silent Source”. The title is also inspired by how archaeological finds are often referred to as silent sources – images or objects that cannot speak but can reveal.

Traces of Nature

Elisabeth Östin is fascinated by how nature is an integral part of Vivian Suter’s work and how she more or less allows nature to take over, leaving traces and marks on her pieces. Some thoughts that Östin shares on Suter’s artistry:

I imagine how the tropical trees and bushes grow like long, grasping claws around her house and how the volcanoes Tolimán and Atitlán, hidden behind dense vegetation, contribute to an almost fateful presence. This presence seems to follow into the exhibition space, where her paintings are arranged in a way that makes them resemble trees or beings, and where the works together form a co-creative whole.