Saturday, January 14, 2017

Artist Spotlight: Karen Woodward Sarrow's Blue Earth

Karen Woodward Sarrow, Mountainous, Acrylic and ink on linen, 48 x 84"
TAG Gallery is proud to present Blue Earth by artist Karen Woodward Sarrow. This showing includes paintings inspired by the Keep it in the Ground environmental movement asking for a transition to renewable energy, and a significant reduction of fossil fuels and pollutants. 

Sarrow begins her paintings by drawing black lines to capture natural movement, the expressive contours of life and human design, as well as a conscious recognition to grief embedded in our world. She then completes the paintings with flat colors.
Karen Woodward Sarrow, Blue Earth, Acrylic and ink on canvas, 40 x 40"
An environmental activist, Sarrow roots her paintings in the impact of humanity’s carbon footprint on the globe, with images ranging from topics of socio-economic inequality to environmental racism. To this end, Blue Earth is, at its core, an exhibition on the art of observation, with the artist finding solace and inspiration in her ability to educate and communicate through her craft. Science and art both facilitate dialogue by way of surveillance, with this exhibition acting as an intersection for both disciplines. 
Karen Woodward Sarrow, Blue Butterflies, Acrylic and ink on canvas, 48 x 24"
Sarrow has been formally influenced by the work of muralist painters and modernist Max Beckman, using English pop artist Patrick Caulfield’s work to inform her ongoing experimentation with color placement and spatial relationships. Her canvases are filled with images of a healthy blue earth but also sickly blue animals, using color to portray idealism as well as a sense of wrongness and mourning. 
Karen Woodward Sarrow, Keep It In the Ground, Acrylic and ink on board, 40 x 16"
Blue Earth is a show designed to inspire love and action for clean water and air by way of translating the sometimes-intangible concepts and magnitude of environmental safety and translating its message via visual language. Sarrow invites you to feel, to question, to engage, and lastly, to act.

Blue Earth is on exhibit until January 21.

No comments:

Post a Comment