29 Oct 2020

Sarah Meyers Brent: Curious Cultivations

Chase Young Gallery

Reviewed by Franklin Einspruch

The possibilities of figurative or figurative-ish painting with high volumes of paint, initiated (with plenty of precedents) by the Bay Area artists in the 1950s, have somehow not yet run out. But as with any ground so thoroughly explored (and I strain to think of any area of fine art that isn't) there is a recognizable look to it that can weigh on the effort. Sarah Meyers Brent defies that pressure by dialing the volume up and down as needed.

Meyers Brent starts from a position of flower painting, pushed off its traditional center by an aspiration to abstraction on one hand, and on the other, piles of laundry and bric-a-brac as befits a house blessed with children. Discarding the standard-issue still life format allows her to go in exuberant directions. Rhododendron Bush II richly applies flower and foliage to a juicy background of warm grays, through which lively drawing with a brush handle cuts its way. Strange Flowers shows her wielding pencil and washes with equal aplomb. As in some athletes, muscularity and womanliness combine into a signature grace.