Sara Sosnowy

Gallery 1: Lesley Heller Workspace is pleased to present the recent paintings of Sara Sosnowy. Her third exhibition with the gallery comprises paintings from three recent series: curtains, ribbons and gowns. Inspired by stage curtains and drapery in old master paintings, fashion advertisements, and her ribbon collection, Sosnowy abstracts the ordinary into something powerful and beautiful. Originally compelled by The Ambasadors by Hans Holbein and an image of a red velvet stage curtain in the New York Times, Sosnowy’s curtain paintings employ solids and stripes to create a sense of texture and dimension.

The festive ribbons hanging in her studio caught Sosnowy’s attention and led to a deeper investigation of space. Through abstraction and layering multiple colors, the ribbon paintings contain an inner depth. After seeing an advertisement for a Christian Dior gown, Sosnowy then combined the ribbons with a gown silhouette leading to a striking amalgamation of color and form. A gown is not just a gown – a curtain not a curtain. Combining abstraction and realism, mystery and familiarity, Sosnowy transforms simple objects into luminous and contemplative compositions.

Sara Sosnowy was born in Texas City, Texas in 1957.  She received her BFA from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas and her MFA from Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute.  She has been the recipient of an Honorarium from The Drawing Center, New York (1994), a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Fellowship, Baltimore (1996) and a Fifth Floor Foundation Grant, New York (1999). Her work is in many prominent public and corporate collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA and RAND Corporation,           Arlington, VA.  Sara Sosnowy  currently lives and works in New York.