ADA GALLERY 228 WEST BROAD STREET, RICHMOND VIRGINIA 23220
NOVEMBER 2019
SARAH TRIGG
FIRST LANDINGS BETWEEN UNDETECTED EARTHS
LEFT Underground (Styx), acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40 inches, 2017
RIGHT Hydra Hedra, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches, 2017
Sarah Trigg exhibits recent paintings and sculptures in her solo exhibition, First Landings Between Undetected Earths which opens Friday October 4, 2019 from 6-9 pm at ADA Gallery in Richmond, Virginia. After spending several years intermittently traveling the country visiting artists in their studios for what would become the book, Studio Life: Rituals, Collections, Tools, and Observations on the Artistic Practice, Trigg returned to her studio to find her paint had dried inside their jars. Inspired by the pigments and material nature of this evolution, Trigg found her new process which she now considers “geological—an ecosystem of building up sedimentary layers of paint often bearing the mark making of past acts”. The colors and textures found in these works are reminiscent of pottery found at the site of an unearthed ancient civilization. Trigg found a transformative direction with these new tools and began reworking older paintings as she began her transition from painting to sculpture—a medium native to her practice but now with distinctively unique processes. Hovey Brock at The Brooklyn Rail says that Trigg’s work “combine(s) a painter's command of color and surface with a sculptor's penchant for innovative shapes and materials.”
FRONT Ochres with Red Layer, household and acrylic paint, 7 x 7 x 6.5 inches, 2017
MIDDLE Gray Earth With Skin, household and acrylic paint, 6.5 x 6.5 x 6.25 inches, 2017
BACK Ochres with Red Layer, household and acrylic paint, 7 x 7 x 6.5 inches, 2017
Standing Figure of Unknown History 3, acrylic, wood, steel, aluminum, 74 x 26 x 20 inches, 2018
Sarah Trigg (b. 1973) is a sculptor and painter whose practice has also included photography and writing. Her paintings and sculptures have been exhibited widely in New York and across the U.S., including at the Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase, NY), the Bronx Museum of the Arts (NY), and the Weatherspoon Art Museum (Greensboro, North Carolina). Since photographing and authoring her book STUDIO LIFE: Rituals, Collections, Tools, and Observations on the Artistic Practice (Princeton Architectural Press) her work has been featured in a two-person exhibition at New Jörg (Vienna, Austria) and a solo exhibition at Black Ball Projects (New York, NY) as well as in several exhibitions and projects. Trigg has been a contributing photographer and writer for New York magazine's art blog SEEN; a contributing editor for Modern Painters and ArtInfo.com; and a professor at the MFA Fine Arts Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Modern Painters, New York magazine, The Art Newspaper, Art and Auction, artnet, and The Brooklyn Rail. Trigg lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Sarah Trigg, Moon, household and acrylic paint, 7 x 7 x 6.75 inches, 2017
Sarah Trigg, Cliff of The Irrational Party Digitized, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 inches, 2017
Sarah Trigg, Standing Figure of Unknown History 2, 69 x 25 x 19 inches, 2017