Sarah Shaw

Sarah Shaw

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Degree: BA Hons (1st)
University: Falmouth University
Graduation Year: 1999

New Blood Art Commentary

Notable Achievements 2021
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We are immersed, briefly, in the painting’s own time zone. We experience absorption: the painting is speaking to itself, and we are privy to its process of coming to know its own aspects of depth, motion, and colour. Ultimately the temporality of paint is portrayed in Sarah Shaw’s works; its material existence that traverses stages of being, leaving traces of varying opacity and texture. Elements twist into the figurative and dissolve out of it again. There is a boundary a dog traverses; there, the concentrated effort of a stag’s movement. Why do animals feature in this oeuvre? They are present, vital: the dynamism of natural forces that the paint – instinctually applied – is a part of, not distinct from. In Shaw’s recent work there is a renewed focus on colour. The brushwork is its instrument of excavation, unearthing it from its familiar coverings to be reappraised, at times with an intense lucidity. There’s a meeting here, or as one title has it, a ‘happening’, between elemental materials and the more complex beings that arise from them. It is the painter’s process – striving, joyful – of perseverance in light of fleeting beauty. 

Artist Statement

I feel that I am in a constant state of redefining my process and aims as a painter. At the heart of my work there is a fascination with the endless possibilities within paint, how to transform a two dimensional space into something with narrative or the possibility to transport the viewer – but the most important part of painting for myself is to get caught up in the process and allow a conversation to happen between myself and the painting. The most successful paintings always retain some sense of this dialogue, the often long painterly journey that has meandered its way through endless emotions. The work often hovers in a place between figuration and abstraction which allows the viewer the space to impose their own interpretation. I’m fascinated by the notion of trying to represent time; past, present and future, and also ‘periphery’ - that part of our vision which gives us the sense of our surroundings, but to which we tend to not pay attention. Some of the works imagery is determined through the making process whilst other work explores specific metaphorical or symbolic images/barriers/passages to explore ideas around time passing, but also very human emotions; frustrations, hopes and desires. During the process of painting there is a building up and stripping down of imagery, and an exploration of different painterly languages, eventually being reduced down to the lowest denominator where an edgy quietness falls. They are not whole images, but snatches of images, sounds and thoughts, forming into coherence briefly, like a painterly slideshow of memory. Ultimately the paintings speak of a belief in the enduring vitality of painting as a primary form of visceral and visual communication.

Solo Exhibitions

(2021) Pause, Commission of 16 Paintings, St David's, Pembrokeshire

(2021) Secret Histories: Excavations in paint, Whistleblower Gallery, Brighton

(2019) I've got something against you, Whistleblower Gallery, Brighton

(2018) 14 Paintings, Commission - 2018 - 2019, St Davids, Pembrokeshire

(2018) Animus, New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey

(2016) Anglomania, Villa Fabris, Thiene, Italy

(2015) Shift, Ink-d Gallery, Brighton

(2014) Parallels, Naked Eye, Brighton

(2014) Passages, New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey

(2013) Sarah Shaw - New Paintings, Artist Residence, Brighton

Group Exhibitions

(2020) Re - Visible, Dean Clough, Halifax, West Yorkshire

(2020) 7 Contemporary Paintings, Bermondsey Art Space, London

(2020) Made in winter, Whistleblower Gallery, Brighton

(2020) Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral, South West

(2019) RWA 167 th Open, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

(2019) Dear Christine, Vane, Newcastle. Elysium Gallery, Swansea. Arthouse, London, Newcastle, Swansea, London

(2019) Aesthetica Art Prize, York gallery, York

(2019) Disposition, Bermondsey Art Space, London

(2018) Private View, LAE, London

(2018) Star Wars, Dynamite Gallery, Brighton

(2018) Modern Masters, Art Republic, Brighton

(2018) Jacksons Art Prize, Cass Art, London

(2018) 14 Paintings, St Davids, Pembrokeshire

(2018) Crossings, Southwell Minster, Nottingham

(2018) S O Fine Arts, RHA, Dublin

(2017) Anima Mundi, Villa Fabris, Thiene, Italy

(2017) Ceremony, No. 20 Arts, London

(2016) Winners Show, Pallant House, Chichester

(2016) NOA, Mercers Hall, London

(2016) Chroma, Dynamite Gallery, Brighton

(2016) National Open Art, Other Art Fair, London

(2016) Heads, Studio One, London

(2015) Inaugural Show, Lacey Contemporary, London

(2015) Open Art Competition, National Open Art, Royal College of Art, London

(2015) International Exposition, National Open art, Harrogate

(2015) Art Gemini Prize, Menier Gallery, London

(2015) Connect 2 Colour, Lacey Contemporary, London

(2015) AAF, Bo - Lee Gallery, London

(2015) Wanderlust, Lacey Contemporary, London

(2015) AAF, Ink-d Gallery, London

(2014) Group show, Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London

(2014) Pushing Paint, Ink-d Gallery, Brighton

(2013) 32 Painters, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton

(2012) The Group, Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London

(2011) Farm Road Collective, Farm Rd, Brighton

Competitions, Prizes & Awards

(2017) British Women Artists - winner

(2016) University of Chichester Fine Art Award - National Open Art

(2017) Shortlist: Threadneedle Art prize

(2017) Shortlist Ashurst Emerging Artist Prize

(2017) Shortlist: Royal Academy Summer Show

(2016) Artist in residence - Minerva Theatre Chichester with NOA

(2014) National Open Art Competition

(2014) Threadneedle Prize, London

(2014) East Sussex Open, Towner Gallery

(2014) Cork Street Open, London

(2014) Art Gemini Prize - Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London

(2013) Royal Institute of Oil Painters, London

(2013) National Open Art - Minerva Theatre

(2013) Zeitgeist Art Prize, London

(2012) Aesthetica Art Prize, York

(2010) National Open Art, Chichester

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