“The more chaotic the better”: Sarah Ingraham subverts the still life form with colour in abundance

Sarah Ingraham spent many years ignoring the urge to become a painter. Long immersed in the arts – from her degree in studio art and art history at the University of Vermont to her job as screen printer – Sarah was well aware of how hard a painting career could be. It was only after what Sarah describes as an “ironic twist” (being fired from her job as an assistant) that painting fully entered her life. Becoming a “lifeline” for Sarah, the process of painting developed into a form of meditation. “I was being authentic in a way I hadn’t with other mediums and people seemed to really respond,” she says.

During her studies, Sarah had found herself enamoured by ornamentation and decorative arts, thus leading her painting to the intricate form of floral still lifes. Though, Sarah’s pieces bear no resemblance to the ‘traditional’ still life. Instead, the artist loves to inject her pieces with “super saturation” and an abundance of colours (currently, she’s obsessed with “puke green”). What’s more, Sarah never plans her pieces, choosing to improvise compositions and rely on her mind’s catalogue of shapes and patterns. Summarising her works, Sarah says that “they’re never realistic, usually over the top and sometimes a little ridiculous”. We wouldn’t have them any other way.

Sarah’s work is currently showing at the Over Order exhibition at Uprise Artlocated at 264 Canal Street #4W in Tribeca until 8 September.