Marisa Newman Projects introduces surrealist artist Susana Wald's Alchemical Exercises, an exhibition that brings together some of Wald's most striking erotic drawings, paintings, and ceramic sculptures. Created between 1976 and 1982, the works exemplify the artist's constant quest for transformation by means of the alchemist's prima materia and the predictable quotidian: voluptuous sculptures made during her years as a ceramist engage in dialogue with her earliest painted works. Shown publicly for the first time, 18 drawings on paper from the series Ultramuebles de la pasion (1981-1982), act as the link between Wald's sculptures and paintings. The exhibition acts as the stage for a sexuality without limits, as Susana Wald puts pleasure and imagination at her service to create works of unbound daring. Alchemical Exercises is an ode to the transformational power of surrealism, a movement that continues to subvert the canon and imagines a different world, a world where the most hidden desires are satisfied. Alchemy is the union of opposites, the irrational approximation of human and artifact, and all that lies between, and triggers the viewer's imagination. Wald, b.1937 in Budapest, Hungary. Studied art in Buenos Aires, Argentina and science in Santiago de Chile. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions, the most outstanding of which include the XLII Venice Biennial (1986). Alchemical Exercises will be her first solo-show in NYC.

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