Sarah Shaw
Degree: BA Hons (1st)
University: Falmouth University
Graduation Year: 1999
New Blood Art Commentary
Notable Achievements 2021
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Sarah Shaw is a British painter whose enigmatic oil paintings inhabit a liminal space between figuration and abstraction. Her process involves constant redefinition, driven by an ongoing dialogue between herself and the canvas. Shaw builds up and strips away layers, exploring diverse painterly languages before reducing her works to their essence.
Animals frequently appear as vital embodiments of nature's dynamism, which Shaw's instinctive brushwork is inextricably part of. Recent series like "Diableries" (2022) renew her focus on excavating color from familiar contexts to be reappraised with a stark lucidity. Temporality is portrayed through the materiality of paint itself, traversing stages of being and leaving behind traces of varying opacity and texture.
Since graduating from Falmouth University with a first class honors degree in 1999, Shaw has exhibited extensively. Her prolific output encompasses over 30 group shows globally as well as 8 solo exhibitions. Notable solo presentations include "Secret Histories: Excavations in Paint" at the Whistleblower Gallery in Brighton (2021) and "ARCANA" at the same gallery in London (2022).
Shaw has received prestigious accolades like the British Women Artists first prize (2017) and been shortlisted for the Aesthetica, Jacksons, and Threadneedle prizes. In 2021, she secured a major commission creating 16 paintings for an art hotel in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Shaw's work resides in the private collections of celebrated musicians such as Thom Yorke.
Her paintings represent the enduring vitality of the medium as a visceral, visual language. They are "happenings" where elemental materials coalesce into fleeting moments of revelation through the artist's joyful perseverance.
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