An installation view of the exhibition, Suzan Frecon: recent paintings, oil and water, at David Zwirner in London, dated 2022.

 (b. 1941) is known for abstract oil paintings and works on paper that—as she describes her practice—“speak for themselves.” Made over long stretches of time, her work invites the viewer’s sustained attention: these, she says, “are not pictures that you look at. They are paintings that you experience.”

In Frecon’s paintings, composition serves as her foundational structure, holding color, material, and light; her compositions are characterized by asymmetrically balanced forms in precise spatial and proportional relationships. However, she has noted, “I use measurements for visual reasons, to achieve an unbalanced equilibrium.” The artist mixes pigments and oils to differing effects, and the visual experience of her work is heightened by her almost tactile use of color and contrasting matte and shiny surfaces. Colors and surfaces vary in terms of density and reflectivity, and areas in the compositions frequently shift between dark and light. Figure can become ground and ground can become figure in, as the artist defines it, a back-and-forth of full and empty space.

Frecon was born in Mexico, Pennsylvania. Following a degree in fine arts from Pennsylvania State University in 1963, she spent three years at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris and studied paintings in museums throughout Europe.

The artist has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. In 2008, her work was the subject of a major solo exhibition, 

form, color, illumination: Suzan Frecon painting

, at The Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, which traveled to the Kunstmuseum Bern in Switzerland. She has participated in a number of group exhibitions such as the 2000 and 2010 Whitney Biennials.

Frecon was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2022. In 2016, Frecon received the Artist Award from the Artists’ Legacy Foundation in Oakland, California.

The artist’s work has been represented by David Zwirner since 2008. Previous solo shows with the gallery include 

 (Hong Kong, 2018), which marked her first solo exhibition in Asia. In 2020, the solo exhibition 

 was on view at the gallery's New York location, and 

 was presented at David Zwirner London in 2022. 

, an exhibition of new works by Frecon, was on view at David Zwirner Paris in 2025.

Public institutions that hold works by the artist include the Art Institute of Chicago; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Kunstmuseum Bern, Switzerland; The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York;  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. She lives and works in New York.

 Suzan Frecon, “text and related work,” in 

. Exh. cat. (New York: David Zwirner Books, 2015), p. 63.

Texts by Sarah Eckhardt, Matthias Frehner, Ulrich Loock, and Lawrence Rinder. Interview with the artist by Josef Helfenstein

This is the first major exploration of the works of American abstract painter and watercolorist Suzan Frecon (b. 1941), critically acclaimed for her sensitive arrangement of color, form, and texture, and for the philosophical resonance of her art. By restricting herself to nonrepresentational forms, earth-based colors, and, in the case of her watercolors, “found” pieces of paper, Frecon achieves an unequaled sense of balance and openness in her work. The book features ten oil paintings and thirty watercolors dating from the late 1990s to 2007.

 celebrates the uniqueness of Frecon’s painting and articulates how her work distinguishes itself within the history of abstract painting. The authors describe in-depth how her artistic process and materials are an integral part of her focus and aesthetic. Included is an essay revealing the “ethics” of her aesthetics––an argument for abstraction and an attention to truth that is not divorced from social and environmental concerns.

form, color, illumination: Suzan Frecon painting | Books

David Zwirner is an art gallery with locations in New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris and Hong Kong. We present physical and online exhibitions, podcasts, books, and more.