Lot 467 - Sara Berman - Fencer Pen Study II

Pen on paper
2024
A6 (10x15cm)
Original Artwork
Signed on Verso
Curated by Hannah Tilson

About
b. 1975, London; lives and works in London. A dialogue between painting and textiles. Feeding into each other, joining at the seams, meeting in uncomfortable places. There is a bleed in my work; a contamination. I can attempt a sanitization, a cleaning up of the domestic detritus into a cupboard marked ‘Practice’ but the bleed is the point, the uncomfortable nooks of the female bodily experience. This is the issue. Pass me a tissue so I can clean it all up for you and put something on. Clothing as objects of confinement, of protection, of identity, of safety. Inside. Outside.

Painting is a game of materiality. The visceral qualities of paint. Layered, built up, scraped back and bruised. Emerging from violence of its own making. Searching.

It is important to start any search with a map of the road to nowhere. My map is The Harlequin. An outfit, a costume The perfect disguise. The perfect reveal. It all starts with her. The Harlequin as a Woman is No Joker. She is the Trickster Whore. The Witch, the Shrew, the Sorceress with the voice of a Harpy. Fear her with her big mouth, her bloody gash. But I digress, I transgress. Me and My Big Mouth.

Education
1995-1999
Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London

2014-2016
MFA Slade School of Art, London