Sarah May - artist

recent work

Boston-based visual artists and museum research and evaluation professional, working toward: more consistent art-making, learning through iteration, making new connections with other inspiring makers.

2023 is good at pretending.

2020 was quarantine art. Slow and quiet. Busy and overwhelmed.

My work in 2018 and 2019 was rooted in blind contour and continuous line drawing, with a focus on the female figure, reflecting on what bodies are: movement, stasis, communication, ambiguity, protection, vulnerability, control, wilderness.

Let's Play (works from 2023)

Emergence (3'x5' - $1500)

Entanglement (3'x5' - $1500)

quarantine art, reflections on the indoors (watercolor and collage on paper - 2020)

exploration (11"x14" - sold)

isolation (11"x14" - $100)

division (11"x14" - $100)

pastel on canvas, works from 2019

The top-most canvas in a vertical triptych in oil pastel, amorphous tangles of what look like limbs and body parts spread over a black background.

The middle canvas in a vertical triptych, a hand seems to grasp at fleshy forms, spreading abstractly out over a black background.

The bottom-most canvas in a vertical triptych, what appears to be an abstracted human head, torso, and hand are sprawled out in chunky shapes on a black background. Together, the three parts of the triptych seem to depict a series of dream-like pale, fleshy forms emerging from the mind of this female figure.

dream space

Pale pastel blue and peach flesh tones depict a human figure's crossed legs. One hand, with a finger pointing upwards, stretches out from between a thigh and calf.

body language, #1

Pale pastel blues and peach colors depict a human figure. She sits, legs huddled and crossed to cover her chest, while one hand holds up two fingers.

body language, #2

A female figure, drawn in pale blue, peach, and yellow tones, sits on the ground, her body close to filling the canvas frame. With one hand, she gently tugs at a yellow ochre material stretching from her chest. Her head gazes toward the viewer, but she has no eyes.

intrigue

variations on blind contour, acrylic on canvas, works from 2019

Sienna paint, almost clay-like, is smeared over a black background. In the paint, a continuous line drawing of a seated figure with no head is scratched out. This etching is repeated twice, with each form overlapping and tangling with the other.

iteration (16"x20" - $150)

Light blue paint is smothered over a black background. In the paint, three versions of the same reclining legs are etched. The figure's legs swing upward, soles of the feet facing the sky.

interpretation (16"x20" - $150)

Pale orange paint is loosely covering a blue background. In the pale paint, continuous line drawings of several female figures are etched, overlapping with each other in varied poses.

generation (20"x16" - sold)

watercolor and ink on paper, works from 2019

A female figure is drawn in black ink. She seems to be perching, huddling down near the floor with her head looking upward and away. Her body is light red and blue stripes emphasizing some contours.

perch (14"x11" - $100)

A female figure is drawn in black ink. She sits, slumped against the edge of the paper, looking directly at the viewer. Watercolor tones her flesh purple and blue against a muddy brown background.

view (11"x14" - $100)

A female figure is drawn in black ink. Her flesh is oddly red, with blue highlights. She on her knees and elbows, looking directly at the viewer.

snicker (14"x11" - $100)

A female figure is drawn in black ink. Her flesh is toned with a light watercolor wash of blue and purple. Her legs are stacked as she sits on the floor, her head cropped out and one arm reaching beyond the edge of the paper.

slouch (14"x11" - $100)

A female figure is drawn in black ink. Her blue and purple body sits, the soles of her feet facing the viewer, as she reaches an arm beyond the edge of the paper.

reach (11"x14" - $100)

A female figure is drawn in black ink. Her form is somewhat slumped, collapsed, and her figure is toned in a light watercolor wash of brown and blue. Her head is partially cropped out of the image, and her hand presses deeply into the ground.

slump (sold)

A female figure is drawn in black ink. She reclines, lowering her head to barely fit into the frame, looking directly at the viewer. Her flesh is pale peach, broken up with darker segments of blue and green.

creep (11"x14" - $100)

A female figure is drawn in black ink. Her body seems segmented by lines, as she sits, legs crossed and an arm tangled among the limbs. Bright red segments of flesh emerge on her thighs and calves.

tangle (11"x14" - $100)

watercolor and ink on paper, works from 2018

A female figure is drawn in black overlapping blind contour lines. Her flesh is roughly painted a light sienna, with sparks of blue highlighting some of her contours. She sits on her knees, leaning toward the viewer.

what she saw, #1 (sold)

A female figure is drawn in black blind contour lines. Her flesh is a bit green, with red and orange highlights. She sits on the floor, back turned to the viewer, while she peers over her shoulder at us.

what she saw, #2 (sold)

Older work - acrylic on canvas

Overlay (53"x40" - $750)

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