Susan Weil
Horizons

Weil exhibited paintings which were related to the horizon. Regarding Stretched and Soft Horizon, 1972, the artist states “This painting consists of two balanced segments; the surfaces are as similar as possible. In the first stretched element the painting is of the sky, horizon, and earth; it is formal painting itself. The second soft half is the painter’s image with the framework removed, but the horizon line remains straight instead of softly following the folds of the cloth. It amazes me that few people realize that they are seeing this illogical sight. In a way, that is lazy looking, but in another way this shows that the power of the horizon is such that it seems natural for it to oppose the softness.” The painter discusses One Tack, Two Tack, Three Tack (1972): “The three parts of the painting fall in folds, based on the points from which they hang, as the name indicates. The images violates the folds, and is as if projected in these irregular surfaces. My impulse to make this painting was to give the illusion of a straight horizon on the soft folds of the unstretched canvas.”

Excerpted from Brentano, R., & Savitt, M. (1981). 112 Workshop, 112 Greene Street: History, artists & artworks. New York: New York University Press.