Sarah Olson

Sarah Olson’s work stretches the perception of natural and organic forms, and how they are constantly being damaged and consumed. Through drawing and painting she explores the beginning of time and the emergence of life: plant, animal, and extraterrestrial. Sarah combines organic forms --distended and distorted tree limbs, insects, birds, intestines, breasts, bellies, feet, genitals-- in order show the interconnected relationship between creatures we consider separate from ourselves. Exploring the intimate quality of line and the explosive quality of color, she examines how the natural world is constantly being damaged and consumed, as well as how it in turn, is consuming us. She twists forms together, playing with potential evolutionary scenarios. She has shown her paintings and drawings at international venues such as Neerja Modi Gallery, Jaipur, India; Gallery Satori, New York; Rivington Gallery, London; and Dahesh Museum. 

In her performance work, she explores the cross-pollination of dance and visual art. Sarah’s performance collaboration "Impossible Landscapes, Invisible Cities" at Da Gallery, New York, and I Made an Art, Brooklyn, suggests unimaginable scenarios within a post-apocalyptic geography through dance, music, spoken word, and live painting. "World Without a Head," performed at Educational Alliance, New York; Hacia Afuera Public Art Festival, New York; and MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA, employs recycled materials and painting to foreshadow the evolutionary effects of the destruction of our planet’s resources. She has also performed work in Rajasthan, India, and Joyce SoHo, New York, and created a multi-venue exhibition and public symposium, The Divine Body, at Columbia University. 

Sarah Olson was born in Riverfalls, Wisconsin, and lives and works in Brooklyn with her husband and three children. She holds an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and a BFA from the University of Colorado, Boulder.