Sadie Laska
Working across painting, sculpture, fabric, and printmaking, Sadie Laska (b. 1974, Prince, WV) creates frenetic, brightly colored compositions chock-full of evocative icons and slogans rendered with sardonic flair.
She invokes the absurdity of contemporary life with coded constructions that reference everything from computer icons to time-worn hieroglyphs for death.
These elementary yet esoteric ideograms–including rain clouds, skulls, cowboys, globes, and arrows–are drawn in a doodled, DIY aesthetic and appear in various media including oils on canvas, shaped mdf cut-outs, sewn banners, and monotypes. Ultimately, collage is the underlying principle of her practice and even her painting process takes its cues from a mixed media ethos–squiggles of spray paint and contrasting chunky gestures frequently sit atop the painted field. Utilizing a variety of cast-offs, detritus, and found objects, she shows a disregard for the supposed sanctity of the painting surface.

Artist: Studio
Artworks

Sadie Laska,
Crash Landing,
2023,
60 × 94 in (152.4 × 238.76 cm)
Oil on linen

Sadie Laska,
Truthiness,
2024,
80 × 70 in (203.2 × 177.8 cm)
Oil on linen

Sadie Laska,
Walking with Fire and Scissors,
2023,
60 × 48 in (152.4 × 121.92 cm)
Oil on linen

Sadie Laska,
Ghostly Call,
2023,
24 × 30 in (60.96 × 76.2 cm)
Oil on linen

Sadie Laska,
Untitled,
2024,
Monoprint on archival paper,
40 × 26 in (101.6 × 66.04 cm)

Sadie Laska,
Rain,
2023,
Acrylic and oil on canvas,
60 × 48 in (152.4 × 121.92 cm)

Sadie Laska,
Globe, Silhouette, Profile,
2023,
Oil on linen,
40 × 30 in (101.6 × 76.2 cm)

Sadie Laska,
Untitled,
2022,
Monoprint on archival paper,
34 × 24 in (86.36 × 60.96 cm)

Sadie Laska,
Lies, Big and Small,
2022,
Oil and acrylic on canvas,
22 × 20 in (55.88 × 50.8 cm)

Sadie Laska,
Make Words Less Human,
2021,
Fabric and paint on flag,
58 × 36 in (147.32 × 91.44 cm)

Sadie Laska,
Untitled (Golfer, Skulls),
2020,
60 × 36 in (152.40 × 91.44 cm)
Fabric and paint on flag

Sadie Laska,
Mediterranean Diet,
2019,
72 × 54 in (182.88 × 137.16 cm)
Acrylic, flashe and collage on canvas

Sadie Laska,
Benzodiazepines,
2019,
34 × 30 in (86.36 × 76.2 cm)
Acrylic and collage on canvas

Sadie Laska,
Luxury Goods,
2019,
30 × 24 in (76.2 × 60.96 cm)
Flashe and collage on canvas

Sadie Laska,
For Anxiety,
2018,
70 × 54 in (177.8 × 137.16 cm)
Acrylic, matte medium, magazines on canvas

Sadie Laska,
Untitled,
2012,
10.63 × 10.24 in (27 × 26 cm)
Mixed media
Installation Views
Installation view, LuLLabIES, Ceysson & Bénétière, New York, 2021

Installation view, Re:Growth: curated by Karin Bravin, Riverside Park, New York, 2021

Installation View, Independent Brussels, CANADA, 2016

Installation view, EREHWON, Canada, New York, 2020

Installation view, EREHWON, Canada, New York, 2020

Installation view, Homesick, CANADA, New York, 2020

Installation view, Homesick, CANADA, New York, 2020

Exhibitions




Press
"March Avery and Elisabeth Kley at parts and Labor," Beacon NY (review). Arte Fuse. December 8, 2023
Claire Selvin, Sadie Laska "Sadie Laska on the Power of Cynicism in Art." Pace February 25, 2022
Rachel Small "Sadie Laska." TheGuide.Art October 1, 2020
Alec Coiro "Sadie Laska At Tennis Elbow." Ravelin Magazine July 16, 2018
MK Palomar "Sadie Laska: interview." Studio International June 20, 2018
Alec Coiro "Sadie Laska’s Figures In The Clouds." Ravelin Magazine October 5, 2017
Trinie Dalton "Peter's Farm." Artforum May 17, 2017
"Collectors Susan and Michael Hort's Picks from FIAC 2016." Artspace October 22, 2016
CV
Sadie Laska
b. 1974, Prince, West Virginia
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
Education
2014
MFA, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY
1992
BFA, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2024
Homesick, CANADA, New York, NY
2023
Electrosmog, The Page Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Boiling Frog Syndrome, Ceysson & Bénétière, Saint-Étienne, France
2021
No Utopia For You!, Soccer Club Club, Chicago, I
2020
Erehwon, CANADA, New York, NY
2017
Nudes, Ceysson & Bénétière, Saint-Étienne, France
2016
Rock Solid, Office Baroque, Brussels, Belgium
Solo Presentation with CANADA at Independent, Brussels, Belgium
A Foot, Some Guns, A Boot, Some Hands, Some Lips, A Breast & A Snail, 56 Henry, New York, NY
2015
Plain Air, Ceysson & Bénétière, Koerich, Luxembourg
I, Clouded, CANADA, New York, NY
2014
Play it as it Lays, Ceysson & Bénétière, Geneva, Switzerland
2013
SAROJANE, Kerry Schuss, New York, NY
2012
Left Hand, Ceysson & Bénétière, Paris, France