Wright Auction

Artist Suzan Frecon was born in 1941 in Mexico, Pennsylvania. After earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Penn State University in 1963, Frecon studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she immersed herself in European art. In addition to large-scale oil paintings, she creates delicate watercolors and smaller works on paper, a medium she explored deeply during a period of illness in the late 1980s, marking her commitment to both her art and process.

Frecon has described her abstract works as "paintings that you experience." Leveraging a thoroughly contemplative practice, her art emphasizes composition, balance, and a profound sense of spatial harmony. Frecon uses asymmetrical forms, layered color, and varied textures to create a sensory environment, where figure and ground blend dynamically. Her carefully mixed pigments and distinct matte and shiny surfaces make her compositions richly tactile, encouraging prolonged viewer engagement with her work's subtle play of light and dark.

Works by Frecon appeared in prestigious group exhibitions like the Whitney Biennials in New York City in 2000 and 2010. She also had a solo show in 2008 at The Menil Collection in Houston, which traveled to the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland. Today, examples of Frecon's work are held by major institutions, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Frecon's dedication to abstraction and her exploration of form and color have likewise earned her significant accolades, including her 2022 induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.