Chris Succo

Flesh #1  2014

Oil, lacquer, linen, adhesive on canvas, estate emulsion, wood

67 x 55 in.

Chris Succo studied at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf and at the Royal Collage of Art in London. He is classified as an abstract painter but his work is so wide ranging the he almost defies the definition. The German artist combines quotes, text, images and paintwork to provoke and challenge conception and aesthetic.

His most recent shows include Fingers at the Robert Blumenthal Gallery in New York, Chris Succo at DUVE in Berlin and Beauty Knows No Pain at RH Contemporary Art in New York. Other solo exhibitions include Total Recall at Rod Barton Gallery in London, The Soft Machine at Saks Gallery in Geneva and Nu Era at Fiebach Minninger in Cologne. His participation in group shows includes his participation in The Go Between: Works From the Ernesto Esposito Collection, at Sprovieri London, in LIFE, at the Journal Gallery at Venus Over Manhatten, New York and in But That Joke isn’t Funny Anymore… at the Tilton Gallery, New York,

Stucco’s experimentation with medium gives a flexibility and tractability to his oeuvre. Working with lacquered aluminium, steel piping and oil paint on canvas, he varies between conventional and innovative materials. He aims to find individuality within conformism, pushing the creative process to the limits without losing its aesthetic cohesion and integrity. His minimalist palette, comprised largely of matt white and black, adds a clarity and impact to his works. The thick, impasto paint application and occasional injections of colour create a layered, gestural effect. His presentation is vigorous but impulsive, revealing interactive layering and improvising with dimension. The resulting canvases evidence both decision and instinct and concealment and exposure. They challenge the viewer with their underlying logic: revealing the generative process to encourage individual observation and understanding.