Sarah Emily Porter

London, London, United Kingdom

About Sarah Emily Porter

B. 1985, London, UK. Lives and works in London. I studied Architectural History at Durham University (2005-2008) before later attending Chelsea College of Arts, London to complete my Graduate Diploma in Fine Art in 2016. This summer I was the visiting artist at the NLCS Jeju Arts Festival in South Korea and recently won the Richard Seager Annual Arts Award 2019 and The London Festival of Architecture 2019 City Benches Competition. In 2018 I won the Broomhill National Sculpture Prize, was awarded a Project Residency at the Griffin Gallery and was shortlisted for the Jackson Open Painting Prize and Signature Art Prize. In 2016 I was shortlisted for The Annex Collection Acquisition Award. I have work in collections across the world and have exhibited internationally. My work explores colour and the historical context of painting. Despite its sculptural attributes, it is born out of the traditions, history and language of painting, with emphasis heavily placed on the performance and process of making. By gaining an in-depth understanding of the chemical properties of paint, I am been able to challenge the rules of painting to create artwork that is a collaboration between my own desires and the unpredictable tendencies of my materials. Rather than artificially aiming for permanence through painting, I seek to highlight the fragile and impermanent nature of life. I do this by creating work that has the ability to adapt and transform over time as it is moved from one position to another. With these modernist ideas at the forefront of my work, I created my own innovative painting tools which pour and manipulate paint on tilting wooden structures. By using unconventional painting processes I create a dialogue between art and science as the paint ebbs and flows in a single linear stroke under the force of gravity. This process removes the artist from the gesture and emotion of painting, highlighting instead the complexity of colour, the intricacies of the materials, and the process of application. Inspired by architecture, interior design and geometry, I create digital sketches to map carefully considered mathematical systems and orders which form a framework for the production of my paintings. In my latest body of work, the historical constructs of painting - colour, composition and form - are explored in three-dimensions allowing layers of colour to fragment and reform as the viewer and environment shift position.

Education:

Chelsea College of Arts (UAL), Distinction, Graduate Diploma in Fine Art | Sept 2015 – June 2016
Distinction

The Slade School of Art, UCL |
Summer Foundation in Fine Art | July – Sept 2014

Durham University, University College | 2:1 BA Hons History (specialising in architectural history) | 2005 – 2008

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