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Sarah Rapson

Sarah Rapson’s work is made with a material economy of means that is present across her oeuvre. Her grainy films are black-and-white; her paintings are visually sparing in tones of ivory and black. Her wall-based works are made and remade from decades of printed matter, as well as more traditional oil on linen, or ink on paper. With an understated nod to the high poetic legacy of institutional critique or simply declaring their own impermanence, her work often incorporates precise art material, including sections of the New York Times art reportage. These flagrant re-workings of her desire, to be, say, the painter, attribute to that old and romantic history with the impossibilities of art.

Sarah Rapson was born in London in 1959. Rapson studied at Hornsey College of Art in London (1979-81), L’Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France (1982-3), Whitney Independent Study program New York (1990-91). Recently her work has been shown at Essex Street Gallery, New York, NY, USA; Modern Art Paris, MACRO, Rome, Italy; Secession Vienna, KW Berlin, Bonner Kunsthalle, Frac Lorraine Metz, White Columns, New York, NY, USA. Writing about her work has appeared in Artforum, Texte Zur Kunst, Burlington Contemporary, and Art Monthly.

Press
Biography
Ode to Psyche, Secession, Vienna, 2021
Camille Claudel in the French, 2021
oil paint on linen, 39.5 x 73 cm, 15 1/2 x 27 1/8 in
1/3
Nutshell, 2011
newspaper, tape, oil paint on linen, 20.3 x 20.3 cm, 8 x 8 in
1/2
White Flower (private collection), 2007
paint over newspaper on linen, 28 x 29 x 2.8 cm, 11 1/8 x 11 3/8 x 1 1/8 in
1/3
A Sleeping Shepherdess, 2015
ink on printed matter, english house paint on printed matter on verso, 26.7 x 20.3 cm, 10 1/2 x 8 in
1/3
Cart (bathed by the nuns), 2021
ink on stained linen, 41.5 x 13 cm, 16 3/8 x 5 1/8 in
1/3
My Eternal Soul V (late 18th / early 19th century),, 2021
linen and printed matter, 149.5 x 16 cm, 58 7/8 x 6 1/4 in
1/2
Mad in Pursuit (Bohemian), 2024
oil paint pigment ash, and printed matter on canvas and linen, 152.5 x 120 cm, 60 x 47 1/4 in
1/4
Classical Landsape, 2011
paint, tape and book page on stretched canvas, 20.32 x 29.85 cm, 8 x 11 3/4 in
The London Dealers (Mayfair Sutra), c.2020
New York Times newspaper on dyed cotton, 13.5 x 23 cm, 5 1/4 x 9 1/8 in
1/3
Newhouse III., 2024 (2003)
oil paint plaster and printed matter on canvas, 244.5 x 92 cm, 96 1/4 x 36 1/4 in
1/5
Christies/680 GBP, 2011
kandahar ink on newspaper, 26.67 x 35.56 cm, 10 1/2 x 14 in
1/2
My Dress, 2004
paint on two joined stretched canvas, 121.92 x 36.20 cm, 48 x 14 1/4 in
1/3
Sufficient Fortune, 2002
super 8 transferred to DVD, sound 2:47 min, looped
1/2
One Thing I like about Zen, 2008
newspaper over painted stretched canvas, 20.96 x 20.96 cm, 8 1/4 x 8 1/4 in
1/2
Untitled, 1997
photogravure on front piece, 29.21 x 22.54 cm, 11 1/2 x 8 7/8 in
1/2
Cathcart Hill, 2000, super 8 transferred to DVD, silent 7:25 min, looped
Tiny Trip, Modern Art, 2021
Newhouse I, 2024 (2003)

Press

Art Review1 May 2024
Texte zur Kunst1 September 2023
Passe-Avant1 February 2022
Artforum1 December 2019
Art Monthly1 October 2019
Texte zur Kunst1 December 2019
New York Times1 July 2010
Brooklyn Rail9 January 2010
New York Times1 March 2001
New York Times1 January 1995
Art in America1 November 1992
New York Times1 June 1988

Biography

Sarah Rapson

Born 1959, London Lives and works in Bridport, Dorset

Education

1981
Hornsey College of Art, London
1983
L’Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
Whitney Museum Independent Studio Program, New York, NY, USA
1990

Solo Exhibitions

2024
Mad in Pursuit
Modern Art, Paris, France
2023
The Second Show
Maxwell Graham/Essex Street, New York, NY, USA
Free admissionCCS Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, USA
2021
Ode to PsycheSecession, Vienna, Austria
Tiny Trip
Modern Art, London
2019
Sell The House
Maxwell Graham/Essex Street, New York, NY, USA
2012
My Birkin
Hansel & Gretel Picture Garden, New York, NY, USA
EastcliffSeattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA
2011
Transcendental Materialism
Zürcher, Paris, France
2010
Transcendental Materialism
Zürcher, New York, NY, USA
Sarah Rapson
Hive Projects | T1 + 2 Gallery, London
2003
Newhouse
Cohan Leslie & Browne, New York, NY, USA
2001
Love is Everywhere
Cohan Leslie & Browne, New York, NY, USA
1999
Paintings for a Swiss Show
Velocity Brooklyn, New York, NY, USA
1998
Hepworth-Riley
Provincetown, MA, USA
1995
White Paintings
Yoshii Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1993
Black Paintings
Yoshii Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1992
One Woman Show
Trial Balloon, New York, NY, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
Modern Art
London
Presque Partout (Almost Everywhere)curated by Fanny Gonella, 49 Nord 6 Est Frac Lorraine, Metz, France
2023
Modern Art
Paris, France
Ah, This!
Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna, Austria
P-O-T-B-O-I-L-E-R-S
Quinn Harrelson Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2022
Ghostscript
Modern Art, London
Dora Budor ContinentKunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Austria
The WigBonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany
2021
Paradis
Maison R&C, Marseille, France
Modern Art
London
Zeros and Ones
KW Berlin, Berlin, Germany
2020
Rituals of Regard and Recollection: Works from the JoAnne Gonzalez Hickey Collection
Law Warschaw Gallery, Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN, USA
2019
Concerning Superflutities: Shaker Material Culture and Affinities
ESSEX STREET, New York, NY, USA
2016
ABISSELFA
Coustof Waxman, New York, NY, USA
2014
Lutto E Melanconi
Spazio Ostrakan, Milan, Italy
2013
The Jewel Box Review
Hansel & Gretel Picture Garden, New York, NY, USA
2011
A Sacrifice to Apollo, 11th Lyon Biennale of Contemporary Art
Lyon, France
2010
Le Tableau, curated by Joe Fyfe
Cheim and Read, New York, NY, USA
Schmoovement
La Mama Gallery, New York, NY, USA
41st National Salon of Artists: ¡Urgente!
Salon Nacional, Cali, Colombia
2007
Winter Show
Nettlecombe, Dorset
2005
Poetry Reading
Bridport, Dorset
2001
Cohan and Leslie
New York, NY, USA
2000
Archaeologies
Zürcher Gallery, Paris, France
1999
In My RoomWhite Columns, New York, NY, USA
1998
Walker Gallery
Provincetown, MA, USA
1997
Jack Shainman Gallery
New York, NY, USA
Material Girls
Gallery One-Twenty-Eight, New York, NY, USA
1995
Weatherspoon Art Museum
Greensboro, NC, USA
1994
Absence Activism and the Body Politic, organised by Jospeh R. Wolin
Fishbach, New York, NY, USA
1993
Tanya Marcuse, Linda Matalon, Yumiko Ohmori, Sarah Rapson
Yoshii Gallery, New York, NY, USA
You Cant Get There from Here
Nordamstaadt Gallery, New York, NY, USA
1991
Minor Injury Gallery
New York, NY, USA

Selected Collections

49 Nord 6 Est Frac Lorraine
Metz, France
Walker Art Center
Minneapolis, MN, USA