Black History Month: Alison Saar
Welcome back! I’m continuing my blog series on visual and literary Black artists who inspire me. Let’s talk about:
Alison Saar is probably best known for her massive found-object sculptures that explore the experience of Black women throughout the African diaspora. She’s also an accomplished printmaker; many of the 2D works influence her larger sculptures. I was fortunate enough to meet her during the opening of her solo exhibition “Mirror Mirror: The Prints of Alison Saar,” which ran concurrently with the group exhibition in which I showed my own work.
Alison Saar and I in front of my work at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at WSU. Photo credit: Ryan Hardesty
I can’t say this too many times: art is best experienced in person, especially sculpture. Some of the reasons Saar inspires me:
She uses a chainsaw to shape some of her largest sculptures
She often prints on surfaces whose history carries almost as much meaning as the images themselves
The empty eyes in her prints are both a little spooky and easier to look at than a traditional painting, but I can’t explain why.
And in case you were wondering, yes, Alison’s mother is assemblage artist Betye Saar, whom I profiled last week.
Tomorrow’s artist makes work that gives the opposite vibe. See you then.