S U S A

Biography:

S U S A, whose real name is Susan Butti Stamm, was born in Switzerland. She works in various fields of art: first she was trained as a ceramist. After a professional apprenticeship at the School of Applied Arts in Bern, the artist has received training in Far Eastern calligraphy. She is also an active yoga and Zen teacher. In 2020, her first book of poetry ‘Auftauchen der Seerose’ was published by Tredition. Susan Butti Stamm lives and works in Herrliberg, Zurich.

S U S As inner connection to the great traditions of the Far East is revealed in all her works and their techniques, which not only dare the great balancing act between Eastern and Western traditions, but also between yesterday and today. Her works – if you look at her solo exhibition Fluss 2022, for example – seem immensely modern and young, and yet the wisdom of the ancients vibrates in them when she deals with calligraphy and certain themes such as the dream, among others. Ink and paper are her preferred medium, and she uses brushes up to 12cm in diameter. Highly concentrated, S U S A directs the deliberately chosen quartet of technique, process, content and form, and often goes pregnant with projects for months before she puts a work on paper – often in one go. The expert might classify her series “Schreibbilder” (Writing Pictures) under the category of Visual Poetry: For there, written words and thoughts form the content and technical basis for the resulting, processually formed pictorial entity. Through their monochrome, delicate and very well-balanced mood, her pictures touch the viewer deeply in his soul. They cast a spell on him, he may literally want to dive into them and learn something about the secrets of the world. Through the occasional choice of Chinese characters, which are not universally understood, the degree of enigmaticl mysteriousness in her paintings is increased within her own visual language and aesthetics. The artist brings philosophical questions or fundamental questions into an artistic-thematic framework, which take an aesthetic and spiritual effect through word and image. For her, art is peace work, work on the spirit and soul.

S U S A has exhibited her works in solo and juried group exhibitions and museums in Switzerland, Germany and Portugal since 1993. She has been represented internationally by LDXArtodrome Gallery since 2023.