Artist Bio

Sarah Benson is an artist based in Austin, Texas and originally from Berkeley, California. She painted throughout the 1990s and worked in the film industry before deciding to pursue a degree in Historic Preservation. She returned to painting and sculpture in 2019.

Artist Statement

Sarah Benson - Artist Statement

I make abstract paintings on various types of paper. I paint or make marks with oil paint, oil sticks, colored pencil, gel pen, sharpie, and sometimes other similar media. My paintings tend to be small. This is partly because my workspace is small, but also because I find the intimate quality of small work interesting.

Even the smallest painting is a physical object with weight, energy, and depth. Each one invites a tête-à-tête - a moment of private and unmediated contemplation and connection (or perhaps misunderstanding, who knows?).

When I paint, I don’t think too far ahead. I play with color, form, and depth, and with themes of order and ambiguity, vulnerability and relationship. I don’t begin with a predetermined end goal. One step leads to the next. I accept dead ends and reversals. I take pleasure in the discovery of my own path.

My sculpture work is concerned with the experience of volume and materiality. I love the way ethereal materials like tinsel and thread can be arranged so as to take up big chunks of space. I also love the way they move, rendering volumes ambiguous, almost fluid.