born in 1929 in Caracas, Venezuela. She lives and works in Venice, California.
Since the 1970s, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess has been creating hand-painted, rather than dipped, glazed ceramics which feature content varying from mythological motifs to pop characters and advertisements, from both history and memory. Utilizing sculptural forms, Suarez Frimkess’s works share her personal story as well as her unparalleled representations of the socio-political times through which her career has endured.
Although Suarez Frimkess’s artworks in collaboration with her partner and life-long collaborator Michael Frimkess achieved acclaim, her first solo exhibition was not until 2013, at 84 years-old, at South Willard, Los Angeles. Subsequent solo exhibitions were held at South Willard, Los Angeles (2015, 2018, 2019) and White Columns, New York (2014).
suarez frimkess’ work is held in the collections of the hammer museum of art, los angeles, the huntington library, art collections, and botanical gardens, san marino, ca, the los angeles county museum of art (lacma), and the museum of arts and design, new york, among others.
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, 2017, solo show at kaufmann repetto New York
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, 2016, solo show at kaufmann repetto Milan
upcoming solo exhibitions
2023
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles
kaufmann repetto, New York
Selected solo exhibitions
2019
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess | 90, South Willard, Los Angeles
2018
Hand Built Ceramics 1958-2018, with Michael Frimkess, South Willard, Los Angeles
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess | New Work, South Willard, Los Angeles
2017
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, kaufmann repetto, New York
2016
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, kaufmann repetto, Milano
2015
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess | New Works, South Willard, Los Angeles
2014
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, White Columns, New York
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, South Willard, Los Angeles
Selected group exhibitions
2021
Clay Pop, Deitch Projects, New York
2020
Artifices instables, Stories of ceramics, Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Monaco
Vent’anni – Twenty Years, 20th anniversary exhibition, kaufmann repetto, Milan
2019
Siobhan Liddell: Nobody’s World, Gordon Robichaux, New York
2017
How to Read El Pato Pascual: Disney’s Latin America and Latin America’s Disney, MAK Center, Sindler House, Los Angeles
2016
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess & Ben Russell, Michael Jon & Alan, Miami
2015
The Avant-Garde Won’T Give Up: Cobra And Its Legacy, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles
Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, Kelly Marie Conder, Bella Foster, South Willard, Los Angeles
Looking Back / The 9th White Columns Annual, selected by Cleopatra’s, White Columns, New York
2014
Selected By…, Limoncello, London
Another Cats Show, 356 Mission, Los Angeles
Made In L.A. 2014, UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
2013
Grapevine, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles
The Cat Show, White Columns, New York
Why is Everything the Same?, Shoot The Lobster, New York
2012
Michael and Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, South Willard, Los Angeles New Work/ Vintage, Lacoste Gallery, Concord
2011
Contemporary Ceramics, Danese, New York
1988
Comic Iconoclasm, Cornerhouse, Manchester
Selected public collections
Hammer Museum of Art, Los Angeles
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
The New York times style Magazine, 2014
