Sarah Braman

Sarah Braman (b. 1970, Tonawanda, NY), widely recognized for her large-scale sculptures that serve as monuments to everyday life, is interested in the interplay between sensory experience and emotional resonance.

In creating her precariously balanced sculptures, Braman combines elements from scrap-yard vehicles, old buildings or furniture with translucent volumes of color and light. The artist’s distinctive color palette of rich pinks, blues and purples permeates the space, from spray paint on found objects and hand-dyed fabric to the expansive nature of the glass forms.

In their formal construction, her works relate to the legacies of minimalism and color-field painting. Defying a narrow modernist definition, Braman’s works suggest themes of home, family and nature, with their joyful immersion in lived experience and emotional life.

Artist: Studio

"I think there's something about wanting to mark time, and being in the world fully. And with sculpture you get to make these things that are in the world with you."

Artworks

Sarah Braman,

Day Trip,

2019,

Mixed Media

Sarah Braman,

Let's Stay Together,

2017,

52 × 34 × 32 in (132.08 × 86.36 × 81.28 cm)

Mixed media

Sarah Braman,

Your Room,

2017,

42 × 20 × 19 in (106.68 × 50.8 × 48.26 cm)

Mixed media

Sarah Braman,

Wrong Painting,

2017,

48 × 52 in (121.92 × 132.08 cm)

Mixed media

Sarah Braman,

Massachusetts,

2017,

57 × 80 × 36 in (144.78 × 203.2 × 91.44 cm)

Found door, found chair, wood, window film, acrylic paint, fabric dye

Sarah Braman,

Learning to Read,

2016,

52 × 52 × 38 in (132.08 × 132.08 × 96.52 cm)

Mixed media

Sarah Braman,

Learning to Read,

2016,

52 × 52 × 38 in (132.08 × 132.08 × 96.52 cm)

Mixed media

Sarah Braman,

High Summer,

2015,

51 × 51 in (129.54 × 129.54 cm)

Acrylic and spray paint on plywood

Sarah Braman,

Around Town,

2015,

51 × 51 in (129.54 × 129.54 cm)

Acrylic and spray paint on plywood

Sarah Braman,

Heat,

2015,

51 × 51 in (129.54 × 129.54 cm)

Acrylic and spray paint on plywood

Sarah Braman,

Another Time Machine,

2014,

72 × 96 × 48 in (182.88 × 243.84 × 121.92 cm)

Welded steel, color gels and glass

Sarah Braman,

Your Drawer,

2012,

36 × 46 × 22 in (91.44 × 116.84 × 55.88 cm)

File cabinet, plexiglass, aluminum and enamal

Sarah Braman,

Confort Moderne,

2010,

83 × 81 × 79 in (210.82 × 205.74 × 200.66 cm)

Found door, chair

Sarah Braman,

Good Seat,

2010,

138 × 112 × 104 in (350.52 × 284.48 × 264.16 cm)

Plywood, paint, found bench

Sarah Braman,

Inside Out,

2008,

38 × 42 × 46 in (96.52 × 106.68 × 116.84 cm)

Found furniture, acrylic paint

Sarah Braman,

Love Song (soft rock),

2008,

75 × 64 × 68 in (190.5 × 162.56 × 172.72 cm)

Found furniture, linoleum, glass, acrylic

Sarah Braman,

Late June,

2008,

44 × 44 × 36 in (111.76 × 111.76 × 91.44 cm)

Table top, found photo on wood, plexiglass, photographs, acrylic

Sarah Braman,

Step Out,

2007,

46 × 53 × 32 in (116.84 × 134.62 × 81.28 cm)

Mixed media

Sarah Braman,

Donkey,

2006,

32 × 40 × 34 in (81.28 × 101.6 × 86.36 cm)

Plexiglass, cardboard, acrylic paint

Sarah Braman,

Let's Stay Desperate,

2006,

66 × 48 × 52 in (167.64 × 121.92 × 132.08 cm)

Cardboard, wood, plexiglass, acrylic and glass

Sarah Braman,

Freedom From Bondage of Self,

2005

Sarah Braman,

Good with Houseplants,

2003,

18 × 27 × 30 in (45.72 × 68.58 × 76.2 cm)

Plexiglass, cardboard and acrylic paint

Sarah Braman,

Untitled,

2000

Sarah Braman,

Second Surrender,

2002,

88 × 71 × 69 in (223.52 × 180.34 × 175.26 cm)

Cardboard, acrylic paint

Installation Views

Installation view, Color Field, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2019

Exhibitions

Brian Belott and Sarah Braman, Touching Color Through Fantasy, Oct 25 – Nov 30, 2003

Publications

Sarah Braman
April trip, 2010

Press

"Museum Debuts Expanded Contemporary Collection." UGA Today July 15, 2021

"Make Painting Great Again." The New Yorker June 29, 2016

Anthony Hawley "How Do We Sleep When the Future is Melting." The Brooklyn Rail May 3, 2016

Rick Briggs "Campers, Sunsets, and Junkyards: Sarah Braman’s Containers of Light." Hyperallergic April 9, 2016

Martha Schwendener "Sarah Braman 'You Are Everything'." The New York Times April 8, 2016

Jerry Saltz "See You Are Everything." New York Magazine April 3, 2016

Marwan Naaman "Heavenly Anarchy." Selections Magazine March 15, 2016

"The Form-Giver." Art in America August 10, 2015

Phil Grauer "Sarah Braman: Interview by Philip Grauer." The Journal September 1, 2014

"Sarah Braman: The Story Behind an Artwork, in the Artist's Own Words." Modern Painters September 1, 2014

David Bonetti "Sarah Braman." ArtNews June 1, 2014

Lauren O'Neil-Butler "Sarah Braman." Artforum February 9, 2012

"Letterhead." Modern Painters February, 2012

Roberta Smith "Sarah Braman." The New York Times November 25, 2011

Stephen Maine "Sarah Braman." Art in America November 2008

Roberta Smith "Sarah Braman: Love Songs." The New York Times July 11, 2008

Roberta Smith "In These Shows, The Material is the Message." The New York Times August 10, 2007

Stephen Maine "Report From New York: Down East." Art in America May 2006

Holland Cotter "Sarah Braman and Brian Belott." The New York Times October 31, 2003

CV

b, 1970, Tonawanda, NY

Lives and works in Amherst, MA

  • Education

    • 1998

      MFA, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA

    • 1992

      BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD

  • Selected Solo Exhibitions

    • 2022

      Sarah Braman: Finding Room, Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY

    • 2019

      Growth, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY

    • 2017

      In Spite of Ourselves, Linn Lühn, Düsseldorf, Germany

      Here, Marlborough Contemporary, London, United Kingdom

    • 2016

      You Are Everything, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, NY

    • 2013

      Sarah Braman: Alive, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

    • 2012

      These Days, China Art Objects, Los Angeles, CA