sarah smith

Lives and works in Oakland, CA, USA

Artist statement

"Sarah Smith is an Oakland-based painter working primarily in oils. Her large-scale portraits depict mainly friends and loved ones in safe spaces. Her subjects can be found at kitchen tables, in painting studios or sitting in living rooms; their poses relaxed and their faces calm. The subjects of her paintings exert the quiet power that comes with knowing you are safe - a state of being that, though fundamental, isn’t easily accessed for many. It is important for Smith to create these spaces of refuge because she’s found that true safety, for herself as a woman, is rarely felt outside of private and personal space. A self-taught painter, Smith uses realism and scale to demand attention and respect. The viewer is required to not only look but to see the subjects of her paintings - witnessing, perhaps for the first time, these individuals at ease. In this state, her sitters are protected from the physical and emotional dangers of everyday life. We find them, rendered in life-size, vibrant portraits, in a place of power and control. Smith invites a dialogue between herself and her sitter where safety, and at times a lack thereof, is explicitly discussed - encouraging mutual support and healing during the painting process. She finds, time and again, the common ground that her and her subjects experience and, in repositioning them through pose, facial expression and sense of place, helps to lift this existential burden. The paintings become sanctuaries where both subject and...

Artwork