Sarah Trigg

Lives and works in Ridgewood, NY, USA

Artist statement

My paintings create atmospheres of earth—like textures and saturated color—while my sculptures are artifacts born from these moody landscapes. In the paintings, the dynamic mark making resembles that made by earth formations but with multiple gravitational pulls—such as lava pouring, tides flowing, surfaces cracking, tectonic plates shifting, and so forth. The sculptures, on the other hand, are mostly totemic stratified layers—like core samples of the earth but spilling out on the sides due to earth’s gravity. Other works appear more figurative and mummified or as relics from unknown realms. These highly tactile creatures, although otherworldly and sometimes mysterious, often invoke playful thought and humor. My work analogizes the psyche to an internal landscape—as if it were a physical substance that can be poured, collapsed, and reshaped—in other words made malleable for beneficial—or maybe cataclysmic—transformation. If psychological events can be thought of as matter—like natural or man-made disasters—they can perhaps more easily be reconciled.

Artwork