Sarah Brenneman

Open But Empty, 2023, framed abstract, colorful, watercolor and acrylic on paper

2023

Sarah Brenneman is an American artist based in West Orange, New Jersey working primarily in painting. Her overarching interest lies in abstraction as a universal language and she works primarily in acrylics on large and small canvases and panels as well as on more intimately sized works on paper with gouache, watercolor and pencil. Brenneman’s paintings speak to the long tradition of American abstraction. She is influenced by painters from the 1950’s New York School, such as Helen Frankenthaler and Willem de Kooning, as well as earlier 20th century painters like Arthur Dove and Mardsen Hartley. Sarah Brenneman’s (b.1975, Middletown, OH) intimate abstractions are layers of referents of play. Beginning with a central form, her compositions topple out sequentially, each shape building on the impression of the last. Brenneman sources her forms from objects in her periphery, often in her home, rendering her paintings almost autobiographical, and forging a sense of familiarity. Brenneman received her BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, OH, and her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA. Her work has been exhibited throughout the Tristate area, as well as internationally in Busan, South Korea, Reims, France, and St. Petersburg, Russia. Brenneman’s work is included in the permanent collections at the Aspen Contemporary Art Collection, the Cleveland Clinic, the Sprint Collection, and The Progressive Corporation. The artist is based in West Orange, New Jersey.