Filed under: Q&A | Tags: 73, Albers, CTRL Gallery, Evan J. Garza, George Herms, LAND, Los Angeles, Orange County Museum of Art, Pacific Coast, Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, Sara Meltzer Gallery/Projects, Sarah Cain, Seiler + Mosseri-Marlio Galerie
Triangle for R.J.M., 2009 | Feathers, acrylic, gold, silver, and bronze leaf, ribbon, gouache, string, gel medium and watercolor on paper, 66 3/8 x 45 1/8 x 1/2 inches
The work of Sarah Cain has as much to do with her surroundings as it does with the materials she uses to create it. As the contemporary practice of painting continues to expand exponentially, with many artists becoming less concerned with the physical medium of paint itself, Cain’s practice—a combination of control, happenstance, and environmental information—is made unique through its reliance on space and the structural conditions of the locations in which her work is exhibited.
Featured in edition #73 of New American Paintings and based in Los Angeles, Cain produces chromatically explosive works on paper and highly dimensional site-specific installations of painted objects, each featuring colorful geometric abstractions. I caught up last week with the New York native and L.A.-based artist to discuss her smart, sculptural work and talk Albers. —Evan J. Garza
EJG: It’s no stretch to say that your work is quite sculptural, not only in the three-dimensional sense of some of your larger pieces, or even in installations, but also in the way your compositions are constructed in works on paper. Tell me about the sculptural quality of your work.
The work is painting via sculptural ideas. It is all about the multiple forms of space: physical, psychic and emotional. I’m interested in challenging the comfort zones within what painting can be.
Installation view, California Does Psychic at Sara Meltzer Gallery/Projects, New York
