I seek to make visible the unseen relationships, activities and resources that both support and undermine our everyday activities, drawing attention to the conditions and ramifications of production, consumption, and exchange. I utilize commercial and industrial materials and equipment (often salvaged), and packaging and shipping materials (shrink wrap, cardboard, bubble wrap, plastic strapping, wooden pallets, etc.) These are often combined with painted, photographic, and video imagery. I explore the full trajectory of the circulation of goods (from manufacture through packaging, shipping, display, sale, use and disposal or reuse/repurposing). By taking the most banal, lifeless, and overlooked matter, mechanically and repetitively produced, and reinvesting it with what the Chinese call li (underlying organic patterns that surprise and delight), I attempt to reconcile the abject and destructive nature of capitalist culture with beauty, while simultaneously bringing attention to the impact of capitalism on people and planet.
The materiality of the object is of central importance in my work, and the materials I work with are chosen for both their associative meanings and their aesthetic potential. I am particularly interested in the role of packaging as both a manipulator of consumer desire and a signifier of absence or not-having. Likewise, I explore the nature of shipping materials as membranes that are considered valuable only in their ability to protect and contain the central objects of value. I investigate the reversal that happens when these materials shed their role as wrappers of other objects and instead lay full claim to their nature as the primary object of value. In this exploration, qualities of inside/outside, reflectivity, and presence/absence are particularly emphasized.
Resumé
Solo Exhibitions
2010 Journey from Longjiang. Artspace, New Haven, CT (upcoming)
2010 Delavan Gallery, Syracuse, NY (upcoming)
2009 Consumed. Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, MA
2007 Closing the Gap: New Paintings by Sarah Bliss. A.P.E. Gallery, Northampton, MA
2006 Paintings by Sarah Bliss. Hitchcock Center. Amherst, MA
Group Exhibitions
2011 Painting with Pictures. ArtJail Gallery, New York, NY (upcoming)
2010 What Matters Most? Exit Art, New York, NY
2010 Tempo. Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH. Catalog.
2010 I-95 Triennial. University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, ME
2010 Here. APE Gallery, Northampton, MA (upcoming)
2010 Beauty's Burden. Schmidt Art Gallery, Wartburg College, Waverly, IA. Curated by David Gibson and Jennifer Junkermeier. (upcoming)
2009 Decadence and Decay: The Mansion Project. Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers Univ., Newark, NJ (catalog)
2009 Out-of-Towners. PCS 80, Holyoke, MA. Site-specific installation
2009 Color Matters. South Shore Art Center, Cohasset, MA. Juror: Jen Mergel, Associate Curator, ICA Boston
2009 Archetime. Tank Space for Performing and Visual Arts, New York, NY
2009 Aferro Benefit. Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ
2009 Art into Life/Life into Art. Pen and Brush Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Gentling the Bull. (Scenery for multimedia puppetry performance.) Maezumi Institute. Montague, MA
2008 Small. Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, MA
2008 Fine Arts 2008. Mills Pond Gallery, St. James, NY. Juror: Tina Kukielski, Curator, Whitney Museum
2008 Aftermath. Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2008 Juxtapositions. Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, MA
2008 On Paper II. The Bushnell, Hartford, CT
2007 Red. Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge, MA. Juror: Jane Farver, Director, MIT List Visual Arts Center
2007 14th Annual Juried Show. Essex Art Center, Lawrence, MA. Juror: Carole Ann Meehan, Curator, ICA/Boston
2007 Works on Paper. Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton, MA
Awards
2009 VSC Full fellowship supported by the Dedalus Foundation. Vermont Studio Center
Publications
Decadence and Decay: The Mansion Project; Rutgers University. Exhibition catalog, pp 42-43, 2009
International Drawing Annual 5. Manifest Gallery, Cincinnatti, OH. 2010
Studio Visit Magazine, Spring 2009, Volume 6. Boston, MA. pp 14-15
Bibliography
"UMaine Museum of Art Shows Work of 44 Artists," Portland Press Herald, May 11, 2010.
Hoffman, Hank. "Thursday Night Opening at Artspace," Connecticut Art Scene. May 5, 2010.
Reder, Selena. "TEMPO Review: Manifest Gallery Exhibition Reflects on Time," Cincinnati City Beat, May 5, 2010
Doan, Abigail. "Eco Art: New York Times Dot Earth and Ecoartspace Ask 'What Matters Most?'," Inhabitat - Design Will Save the World, May 1, 2010.
Beem, Edgar Allen. "The Interstate-95 Triennial: University of Maine Museum' of Art's Road Show," Yankee Magazine. April 28, 2010.
Bloch, Jessica. "Making Connections Through Art,"" Bangor Daily News. April 27, 2010.
Scannel, Caroline. "The Misleading Pleasure of Consumption," Massachusetts Daily Collegian, April 9, 2009
Education
1994 Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA. M.Th.
1985 Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH. B.A.