Suzanne Lustig
Here/There
17 April – 10 May 2025
Here/There is an exploration of identity, belonging, and all the spaces in-between. Suzanne Lustig’s practice creates a visual dialogue between two distinct places that have shaped her, weaving form and colour from both the Netherlands and Aotearoa. By layering elements from these contrasting landscapes, Suzanne reflects on having her heart in both places, and delicately balancing between two worlds.
Her fascination with mushrooms becomes a metaphor for this experience. Fungi exist in a realm of their own, bridging worlds and thriving in unseen networks beneath our feet. Through bold graphic shapes and striking black lines, Here/There is a visual journey of entwined connections between plant/human, presence/absence, and structure/fluidity.
Incorporating materials such as Indian ink and oil pastels, Suzanne welcomes the resistance they offer, creating a dynamic tension between restraint and gesture. Her works, abundant with pattern, texture, and playful use of colour, emerge from a process of scraping and masking to uncover previous layers of paint, embracing the dance between revealing and concealing. Like wandering a forest trail, Suzanne’s practice is one of discovery—each work offering a glimpse of the strange and whimsical, much like stumbling upon a rare flower or mushroom in the wild.
INSTALLATION VIEWS
ARTWORKS
THE ARTIST
Suzanne Lustig’s world is built of textured oil pastel blocks, faces outlined with indian ink in a patchwork of rich oranges and blues, dusty pinks and teals. Works that thrum with Lustig’s gesture and movement, her hand felt in each irregular stroke. An intuitive and dynamic negotiation between an artist and her medium.
Born in the Netherlands, Suzanne studied graphic design at The Hague’s Royal Academy of Arts before transitioning to illustration and painting. Now having lived in Aotearoa for ten years, she finds herself at the bridge between the two, travelling back and forth - synthesising the spontaneity and depth of European movements like CoBrA, together with New Zealand’s serene but bold landscapes. Playful, witty and harmonious.