Author Description

For the 14 diptychs that comprise the Merian's Surinam series, Swiss painter Pia Fries (born 1955) uses reproductions by the painter and botanical illustrator Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717). Merian's images of plants, flowers, animals and insects are elaborated upon with oil paint, from thin to thick impasto, and with varying degrees of obscuration, to establish an open and playful dialogue between the two women.