Alice Sutro

Alice Warnecke Sutro creates large-scale figurative installations that fully depend on audience interaction.

Her live drawing sessions are humorous and lively, but they also reveal a philosophical approach to the nature of art. After many years of experimental drawing, Alice’s practice prioritizes art’s ancient purpose as a community-forming activity for ritual gatherings.

The format for her projects is recurring: she invites participants from a crowd and draws them live, in the moment and with no erasing. The figures are rendered with a sensitive line that demonstrates her love of people, often strangers, with whom she converses the entire time.

In keeping with ritual experiences and inspired by contemporary artists like Marina Abramovich and Matthew Barney, Alice always designs her projects to explore the edge of her physical capacity. Past projects have included tracing figures on a 3-story façade by means of a scissor lift and extension paintbrushes, and drawing visitors at an art fair for 2 days straight in record heat to create a 120-foot continuous column of portraits.