Sarah Ann Weber

Born in: 1988, United States

Lives in: Los Angeles, United States

Media: Painting, Watercolor, Mixed media, Drawing

Describe your work in 3 words: Floral, elaborate, vivid

See More Work:  www.sarahannweber.com

The Set Up - Colored pencil on panel, framed 21 x 25 in.

"I draw landscapes that combine my observations and memories of the natural world with abstraction. Here, figures are camouflaged, androgynous, and more plant-based than human. There is beauty, but upon closer inspection, violence and decay are also present."

What themes does your work involve?
By creating environments, I am able to explore gender, decoration and beauty. Focusing on the floral and exotic, my highly detailed, dense compositions become places where growth and entropy, figure and ground, intertwine. My work may foster the hallucinatory experience of seeing a mirage, where navigating the environment is a disorienting but pleasurable experience.
Describe your creative process.
My process of drawing is intuitive. I usually begin a composition with quick, gestural scribbles or paint pours. Then I slow down, honing in on small, intertwining sections. I treat colored pencils like paint, blending the wax-based pigments to create smooth gradients. The marks stay small to draw the viewer in close, where patience is rewarded with subtlety of color and hidden forms revealed.
What influences your work? What inspires you? Why do you make art?
My work brims with biomorphic forms and gestural marks that mimic the succulents and flowers of southern California (a place I have called home for the last six years), but the compositions are also punctuated with scribbles and brushstrokes that remind the viewer that the spaces are invented. I am inspired by nature in all its forms (wild, tamed, synthetic, fantastic) and how people exist and become part of their environment.
What is good art? What makes a piece of art great?
I think a work of art is successful if it leaves a viewer with a lingering experience of wonder.
What is the role of the artist today?
I believe it is an artist’s responsibility to be present, reflect, and bear witness to an ever-changing world. Although my artwork has never been overtly political, I work intuitively and from an emotional place, so my practice is undoubtedly affected by how I feel about everything that is going on in the world.
The Plot - Colored pencil on paper, framed 24 x 32 in.
The Watcher - Watercolor and colored pencil on panel, framed 49 x 61 x 2 in.
The Pressure - Colored pencil on paper, framed. 24 x 32 in.
Palm Canyon - Colored pencil on paper, framed. 24 x 32 in.

 


Sarah Ann Weber received the 3rd Place Award in the CFA Artist of the Year 2019 Contest. © CFA Press ∙ Images are courtesy of the artist