Reviewing “Vivian Suter: Disco” at Lisbon’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in
Artforum’s Summer issue, Joshua Decter
described the show—comprising more than five hundred paintings made by the Panajachel, Guatemala–based artist over the past decade—as “a striking agglomeration, what might be described as an all-painting
Gesamtkunstwerk.” After closing at MAAT in April, “Disco” traveled to Paris’s Palais de Tokyo, where it is currently on view through September 7.
Alongside Decter’s review,
Artforum celebrates the exhibition this week by revisiting
Daniel Birnbaum’s essay on Suter’s 2021–22 exhibition at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, published in the magazine’s January 2022 issue.
“I have no clue what Mick Jagger is trying to communicate in ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash,’ but I always liked the explosive opening line: ‘I was born in a cross-fire hurricane,’” writes Daniel Birnbaum. “In front of Vivian Suter’s rough canvases at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, the lyrics suddenly make sense. These works were born in thunderstorms. Rain, wind, and muddy waters are factors as important as the intentionality and craftsmanship of the artist.”
—The editors