About

My painting of the past five years is a semi-observational response to place. It is concerned with presence and the spontaneity of feeling. The settings and subject is the studio with a ‘garden’ of potted plants, a chair, tables, easels, and a bay of windows. This environment becomes a matrix for the paintings.

The studio plants are common. They often come to me as cuttings from friends with outdoor gardens. Observing their forms and growth inspires me.

Through drawing and painting plant life in the studio environment, several themes come forward. One theme is plants and how they grow in a human-organized space, how they can become jungle-like. Another is sunlight.

After a studio move to LA’s fashion district one year ago, an expansive 180 degree view of city blocks and their structures entered the work. This vast urban vista is coming into dialogue with the studio interior. On the interior side, a chair is an offering of hospitality. There is also a glass jar, which may hold water. It is another offering in the paintings. 

For me, painting is a process that blends perception and intuition. At its simplest, the work is about a pleasure of thinking through paint, exploring ways of seeing, and following trails of ideas. Gesture, color, and the visceral, gritty material realities of the paint are important elements as well.

Photo by Aidan Butler

BIO:
Sarah Granett was a resident at Vermont Studio Center (2017), Red Gate, Beijing (2010), participated in Bronx AIM (2011) and received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant (2011). During the years of 2007 through 2011 she participated in artist-run exhibition initiatives in Newark and Brooklyn. From 2011 to 2014 she lived and worked in Istanbul, co-producing the artist-run project NIMBY Lifestyles. In 2014 she co-founded the online arts magazine Dime and Honey (2014-2017). She has worked collaboratively with musician-composer Roozbeh Nafisi (Festival of New American Music, 2017) , and Steven Dressler (video animation shorts, TSTS). Granett studied at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers (MFA), Bard College (BA), the New York Studio School, and CSU Sacramento. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

CV

Exhibitions (Group except where noted)
2024 Blue Mountain Gallery, Summer Juried Show, Judy Glantzman, Juror, New York, NY
2023 TRYST, Open Air– Plein Air Drawings, Torrance, CA
2023 Cerulean Arts 11th Annual Juried Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA
2022 GARDEN, Ladies’ Room LA, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Nomad, Pop-up by the Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2021 Shitty Heaven, St.J LA, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Texts and Messages, Kamikaze PØST@MiM, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Solo: After the Galloping Snail,  Winslow Garage, Los Angeles, CA
2018 X Marks the Spot, New York Studio School, NY, NY
2017 as seen, as said, as sung, as read, Festival of New American Music, CSU Sacramento. Sacramento CA
2016 Filmideo 2016, Index Gallery, Newark, NJ
2015 30 to Collect, Blue Line Gallery, Rocklin, CA
2015 Material Turn On, San Francisco, CA USA
2015 Filmideo 2015, Index Gallery, Newark, NJ
2013 Bir Kentin Belleği: Haydarpaşa, Istanbul TR
2011 Bronx Calling: AIM Biennial, Bronx Museum, Bronx NY, USA
2011 Joanie4Jackie Chainletter, NY, USA
2010 {S0NiK} Synthetic Zero, Bronx Art Space, New York, NY
2010 Yard Art, The Dirty Dirty, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Video Melee, Aferro Gallery, Newark, NJ
2010 Caged Bird, Between Noumenon and the Potato, Alfa Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
2010 Rock Dreams, Artist Made Songs, “Favorite Album” w. Steven Dressler, Index Gallery, Newark NJ
2009 Freestyle, Newark Arts Council Annual, Newark, NJ
2009 Plastic Robes for SK Orchestra Performance, Plastic Space, New York, NY
2009 Brick City 07101, Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit NJ
2009 Oromancer, New Brunswick, NJ
2008 Fungous Amongous, The Dirty Dirty, Brooklyn NY
2008 Invitational, Red Saw Gallery, Newark NJ
2008 Goonie Weenie, w. the Post Neo Absurdist, ‘Artichoke’, New Brunswick, NJ
2008 Intimate Abstract, Big Medium, Austin, TX
2008 Fiddlesticks 5, w. Post Neo Absurdist , New Brunswick, NJ
2008 Codepink Benefit Auction, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
2007 Solo: Lean Suite, Mason Gross, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
2007 CAA New York Area M.F.A Exhibition, Hunter College Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Welcome Back, MGSA, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
2004 Showroom Art Show, Phantom Galleries, Sacramento, CA
2004 Situations and No Wheres, 2-person show, Witt, Else Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2004 Sham Badminton Disco Meeting, A.S.L., Sacramento, CA
2002 Group Show, Uptown Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1997 Show, Kanazawa College of Arts, Kanazawa, Japan
1996 Weather Documents, B.A. Graduate Show, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Awards, Grants & Fellowships
2023  Finalist Alexander Rutsch Award for Painting
2019 Honorable Mention, New York Studio School, “X Marks the Spot”
2017 Vermont Studio Center, Residency, Johnson, VT
2015 Guest Artist, Norton Factory Studios, Oakland, CA USA
2011 Foundation for Contemporary Art, Emergency Grant, NY, NY
2010 Red Gate Residency, Beijing, China,
2010 Bronx Museum, Artist in the Marketplace, Bronx, NY
2007 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Competition Awards, Nominee
2006 Mason Gross School of the Arts Competitive Funds Award
2006-2007 Teaching Assistantships, Rutgers University

Artist Lectures
2014 Guest Artist, Painting Salon, San Francisco, CA
2013 Guest Artist, CSU Sacramento, Sacramento, CA
2009 Visiting Artist, Drew University, Madison, NJ

Public & Community Projects
2022-2024 Curatorial Participation with the artist collective, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles.
2015-2017 Dime and Honey, Web magazine.
2012-2013 NIMBY Lifestyles, Pop-up exhibitions Istanbul, TR
2008 Drawing Vigil: Community Draw, Big Medium, Austin, TX
2008 Guest Artist Lecture Series Coordinator, Essex County College, Newark, NJ

Education
2007 M.F.A. Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
2005 M.A. California State University Sacramento, Sacramento, CA
1996 B.A. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY