Sarah Rachael

Degree: MA Fine Art
University: University of Wales, School of Art
Graduation Year: 2018

New Blood Art Commentary

“Let us carve gems out of our stony hearts”, once wrote the 13th century Sufi poet Rumi. Reminiscent of this gentle edict are Sarah Rachael’s paintings that display sparkling new possibilities of paint, all in the name of compassion and connection. Rachael’s pieces refract and layer colour as a gemstone bends and disperses light, unlocking an inner ‘fire’ and allowing for a unique viewing experience. Pieces draw inspiration from nature and its metaphorical overtones, as well as Rachael’s own inner conflicts and passions. This culminates in fiery works that change according to viewers and their own temperaments, like mood rings, they reflect something new every time.

Artist Statement

I am a visual artist living in Aberystwyth, Wales. I completed my BA Fine Art at Aberyswyth University and went on to achieve an MA Fine Art in 2017. I have been living in this seaside town ever since.

Throughout the course of my degrees, I have learnt to open up as an artist by exploring the potential to be found in both colour and abstraction. I have imposed semantic values to colours and utilised my instinctive mark making as a process of externalising inner thoughts and concepts. The translucent properties of acrylic paint and glazing mediums allow for a complexity of layers to be created within a painting in a similar fashion to the complex layers that create us as individuals; human beings, both mentally and physically.

I look to nature for inspiration, primarily flowers and inject the very essence of this into my painting. I do not wish to capture only what we see, but the emotion that can be evoked from these objects in a metaphoric dialogue. Painting is a very personal experience for me that is fundamentally driven by my emotions, both positive and negative. Although my work is open for interpretation by viewers such as yourself, each piece has its own unique story to tell. .