The art of Zana Su

Zana Su was born in Hanau under the name Suzana Pavičić, the first child of Croatian parents, and grew up in two cultures. Being at home in two cultures offers the advantage of being able to call up two reference models, speak two languages and have two different ways of thinking. At the age of 18, the artist discovered color as a phenomenon of her own life and wanted to make a form of existence of energies and emotions tangible with her paintings. The question of cultural identity did not arise for her, as she does not live between cultures, but in two cultures with all their contrasts. Differences can be stimulating and enlightening. Zana Su’s works often seem to have little in common with each other, because on the one hand they turn us into flaneurs looking through windows, gazing into mirrors or being caught by light effects, as they involuntarily touch our inner selves. The painterly dissolution of form leads to fractured pictures in which the pictorial space is suspended and the motif loses its significance. The quick, watercolor-like realization of the pictorial subject, the colorfulness and the rapid brushstrokes emancipate themselves from the white surface. The confidence with which she handles the different formats, the impulsive stroke sequences and the unusual concentrations of form remain overwhelming. Then again, the artist allows us to participate in stories with her paintings, which assign the viewer a place and involve them in the narrative. These depictions transport the viewer into a recognizable world, which at first seems familiar, but on closer inspection evokes feelings of confusion and sometimes disquiet. The human existence in all its complexity, in situations of interaction and isolation, is encountered here in many different forms. The artist’s imagery fights against fixed categories and regularities. The ambiguity of her works as well as the art-historical, contemporary and biographical allusions and pictorial references, the ironic distance and the joy of experimentation make it clear how she constantly rethinks and reinvents her painting. In terms of both content and form, Zana Su repeatedly manages to break free from conventions and go beyond standardization in painting in an astonishingly diverse way. She fills her paintings with her own dream images, visions, followers and companions. 
The works link their dynamism with our attitude to life. They become part of our lives, as if they were housemates who breathe and who can give us food for thought or comfort every day through their insistent presence. Zana Su’s works celebrate the power of art and proclaim the liberating activity of painting as well as the contemplation of paintings as a necessity of life.

Dr. Frank Wernitz