RACHEL SAGER

My work primarily focuses on matter in transformation; metamorphosis, the experience of change. In capturing a moment of dramatic transition, from one state to another, I freeze the meteoric combustion or explosion, a loosely depicted colorful image of global warming as seen on climate change map, to liberate the mind from any certain and singular symbolism.

How such elemental shifts coincide with the sometimes devastating effects of human beings on the world around them, is an inevitable correlation that must be made. In my work, I portray this deconstruction of matter as calculated explosions on aerial landscapes; the ground living, breathing, and dying all at once, in a heavenly haze.

I am drawn to the concepts of perspective and perception, things felt versus known. My work creates a space in which imagery is familiar, yet abstracted, igniting the imagination and intuiting conclusions. With perception being the the single most impactful factor, second to internal subjectivity, what "is" becomes a cascading ripple of experiences, sandwiched between internal projection and perceived reality. Interpretation is inevitably skewed by personal experiences, learned or innate truths, and socially conditioned responses.

Rachel Sager earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia after studying at Lorenzo de’ Medici in Florence, Italy, where, in addition to studying painting, she worked as a portrait artist steps from the Duomo. Her work has been featured in many internationally juried exhibitions including Clavo Moviemento Art Fair, Aqua International Art Fair in Miami, FL; New York City Affordable Art Fair, and Crocker-Kingsley California Biennial. She was awarded first prize by Nancy Lim (SFMOMA curator) in an SF Bay Area juried competition, among many other honors. She was the featured artist and narrator of the PBS Emmy Award-winning documentary, Sketching the Silk Road, in which she guided the audience through never before seen caves of the Chinese city of Dunhuang, while creating drawings and paintings along the way. Sager currently lives and works in Northern California, where she has recently opened an Artist workshop and salon, Suite G Studio, where she hosts weekly, live figure drawing classes, curates and produces art exhibits and performance art shows.