Artists

Meet the artist Sussi Hodel

What is your artistic singularity ?

My artistic singularity is probably my style and choice of motif. I choose a powerful, consciously confrontational pictorial language. I call my paintings loud. I have tried to create my own kind of contemporary art with a high recognition value and a lot of aesthetics. With my works I confront the viewer with boundless anger, sadness, but also unbridled joy or impetuous lust. My work encourages me to allow all the feelings and sensitivities that are often wiped under the carpet in our society.

Matthias, 2017, oil on canvas 120x80cm

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I enjoy the whole work – except maybe brush cleaning. Although sometimes it is also a fight with the canvas. Nevertheless, on the one hand I am pleased about the individual milestones during the creative process. Be it the successful sketch, the different layers of paint, and perhaps especially the last spots of paint before the painting is finished – these are probably the moments that decide whether a painting is harmonious or not.

Has anything changed about your working processes during your artistic career?

Oh, yeah! Much has changed. Originally, I loved to do very small artworks with acrylic to a very high level of detail. That was pretty photorealistic. Today I paint a lot with the spatula and only use the brush for details such as eyes or fingernails. This makes the picture more exciting from my point of view and allows the viewer more interpretation. In addition, I used to make a lot of sketches before I started with a picture. Today the process takes longer until I have the right motif, but the sketches are almost lost because I am more aware of what I want to put on the canvas.

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When the curtain falls, oil on canvas, 120x80cm

Do your work engage with current events (and how)?

No, or maybe unconsciously. However, I work thematically. So, I set a theme that occupies me and develop my works from it. It is important for me to work in this way, because it helps me to get fully involved and to illuminate and analyse it from different angles.

Can you tell us a bit about “Sam”?

Sam’s an artist colleague. She is a very strong self-confident woman, who is able to find her place in life and consciously embarks on where her path leads her. I painted the picture in the context of the exhibition Wild2. As the exhibition’s title suggests, it was all about the subject of wild. However, I did not want to paint people with horns again, but to express the savage in us human beings. This also includes sexual body-conscious wildness. Sam embodies this one for me. She is aware of her beauty and sets her limits. A woman who knows what she wants and stands by herself.

Sam, 2017, oil on canvas, 120x80cm

Sussi Hodel on Singulart:https://www.singulart.com/en/artworks/sussi-hodel-sam-4326

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