Born in the US and settled in Switzerland since 1992, Suzanne Ledergerber loves to splash her canvas with strong, full colours. As she says, the world is her muse and she observes it with its contrasts and wide horizons.
ACF spoke to her to learn more about her style…
Your journey has been very interesting, would you please tell us how your travels have inspired you and shaped you as an artist?
Yes indeed, my travels started at a very young age, moving back and forth from the US to Switzerland and Germany. After finishing my apprenticeship as a Textile-designer at St. Gallen in Switzerland, my travels began again to Africa, Australia, USA and back to Europe.
I love to explore new countries and cultures and have painted things that impressed me the most. I love to work with beautiful colours that you see and find on this globe. The world is my muse, as I observe it for its contrast and wide horizons.
Please share your style of work. What mediums do you like to work with?
One day, I struck the idea of combining pictures from my memory with acrylic-colours and different structures and bringing/working them together on canvas. As I got down to doing that, abstract and figurative came together in the painting and they become one.
While painting a picture, I let my imagination do all the work. It guides the brush and colour for me.
Recently, I evolved a new technique — leaving the motifs off the canvas completely, working and exploring more with the different structures, putties, layers, tools and colors, oil and acrylic.
Do please share more on your technique…
Most of the time, I work on the floor. Since I start with very wet paint, the canvas has to lay flat. I even push the colours around with a water-sprayer, so that at times, you can see little lakes on the surface.
Then, I take the copy or original of the subject and mount it on the canvas staying in the flow with the different structures, colours, paints and tools.
It starts with a sketchy draft and slowly builds up, changing constantly.
Is there any particular project that you regard close to your heart? Tell us about it.
There are several projects that are close to my heart, because many of the subjects are beautiful memories of my life.
However, my two most favourite collections are Nature of life, Africa and Under-Water-World.
Which are the markets that you would like to look at for showcasing your art?
Well, the art scene in Switzerland is very good. The highlight of the year is always the Art Basel Exhibition, which I attend every time. In the future, I hope to visit Berlin, Amsterdam and London.
I dream of having my art everywhere — Galleries, Hotels, Restaurants, Office-buildings all over the world… California and New York, however, are my preferences.
Creatively, how do you see yourself growing?
I see myself growing in my art, exploring, experimenting, finding new combinations of different structures, colours, layers, technics and so on, and putting it all on canvas.
