CtC’s Artist of the Month for February is British artist Suzanne Treister (London, 1958). Recognised in the 1980’s as a painter, Treister has since utilised many materials in her exploration of new media technology, surveillance and dystopic/utopic futures.
Treister graduated from Central St Martin’s with a BA before later graduating with an MA from Chelsea School of Art in 1982. She has long been respected as a pioneering influence and voice on new media art, and associated technologies, and has in fact been investigating the field since the early 1990s. Her work often sees the use of drawing, printmaking and painting alongside the use of new media. She has exhibited and held events in many places including; Post-Surveillance Art (Chisenhale Gallery, 2014), In the Name of Art and Other Works (Annely Juda Fine Art, 2013) and The Real Truth. A World’s Fair (Raven Row, 2012).
In an art world where the influence of new media is becoming more prominent, Treister’s special interest in the ideas of observation and of being observed often combines more scientific and fact-based information with a surreal ideology. One of her most prominent projects to date involved a collaboration with publishers Black Dog. Hexen 2.0 investigates the ideas of surveillance, the internet and mass control. An intrinsic part of the project was the Tarot deck which applied thoughts of the mystical where there was usually only the methodical, it consisted of alchemical drawings, based on real events, and offered people the ability to predict alternative futures. Hexen 2.0 has had many physical manifestations in such places as London, Ohio, Dortmund, Melbourne and New York.
For the month of February, CtC will present a selection of Suzanne Treister’s works on the Facebook and Twitter pages.
Check the CtC pages regularly to see the next one.
All images are courtesy of the artist.
Amy E. Brown
CuratingtheContemporary (CtC) 