Skull and Figs 12x16 | Heart and Cayenne 14x17 | Guts and Prunes 14x17 | Ribs and Roses 14x17 | Pen and Marker on Paper | Sarah Nelson, 2020
THE INSIDE - an in-home art exhibition by Sarah Nelson
What is an in-home art exhibition? Well, it's a little experimental art show and a concept I made up as a result of COVID quarantine. In essence, I create a brand new body of work and display it throughout my apartment and host an art opening via instagram live! Hopefully someday it will be safe to also host these in person.
Artist Statement:
‘The Inside’ is a series of drawings that contemplate our broken, yet interconnected relationship to one another and to our natural world. These works were forged in the realities of our current experience: 8 months of COVID-19 (so far), a vital and monumental fight for Racial Justice, an economic collapse, the US General Election, and record breaking wildfires and hurricanes rattling the coasts. What happens inside of us is usually a direct consequence of context and external events. These are the forces shaping us.
These pen and marker drawings, pair and intertwine human anatomy with lush botanicals, pollinators- even pests. Inspired by digestion and photosynthesis, this show physically breaks down (or builds up depending on how you engage the show) into basic elements: Nature and Human. The ideas and information that we consume are digested almost as literally as the food we eat. They feed or destroy the garden we have inside of us, and they create an atmosphere that we then, quite literally, emit back into the world. It can create oxygen or smoke, leaving those around us and our natural world to adapt and respond. These interior gardens have a delicate balance of decomposition and growth.
Each plant was specifically paired acting as a healer to that part of the human body. As the subjects become more focused the paper and the drawings become smaller. These drawings read much like x-rays, floating in negative space, while the plants do what they do best: they grow and give life.
All materials for this exhibit were created using materials I already had in my studio, in order to keep with my commitment to reducing waste in my practice.
Hands and Cat's Claw | Pelvis and Valerian | Lungs and Grapefruit | 8x10 Pen and Marker on Paper | Sarah Nelson 2020
Atlas and Axis C1 and C2 | Knee Bone| Disassembled Hand Bone | Pen on Paper | 5x7 Sarah Nelson 2020
Alfalfa | Almonds | Clove | Willowbark | Pen and Marker on Paper | 5x7 | Sarah Nelson 2020
