Serving as a metaphor for the working process of Los Angeles-based Sarah Cain, Dark Matter (an invisible material with mysterious properties) displays the artist’s desire to invite viewers into her ethereal artist visions; immersive works that challenge spatial convention through abstraction beyond the frame.
The exhibition, currently showing at New York’s Galerie Lelong, sees a dozen new paintings brought together, Cain’s carefree application of pigment and found materials (like chain link; sunglasses; pinwheels; and prisms) revealing her propensity to challenge the norms of painterly tradition. Nowhere is this contrariness more evident than in Dark Matter‘s headline act, though, a monumental floor painting that covers the gallery’s entire footprint; some 2,500 sq ft.
It’s an immense and immersive installation, visitors to the gallery submerged in Sarah Cain’s frenetic style — her Dark Matter enveloping you and whisking you off into her dimension. It is celestial and magical, and readdresses the conventional limits imposed by traditional painting practices; airbrushed and gestural lines, splashes and stripes, geometric forms, loose and controlled … Cain dances between styles and techniques throughout the Chelsea gallery.
Sarah Cain’s Dark Matter continues at Galerie Lelong, New York, until 15 October.
Sarah Cain
waves, 2016
Beads and acrylic on canvas
60 x 48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
© Sarah Cain, Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York
Sarah Cain
enter the center, 2016
Acrylic, chains, beads, and stick on canvas
61 x 54 inches (154.9 x 137.2 cm)
© Sarah Cain, Courtesy Galerie Lelong, New York.
