Sarah Cathers @ TARTINE March 18, 2009

SARAH CATHERS
Night Pollution

March 18th - April 16th

OPENING RECEPTION: Wednesday, March 18th from 9pm - 11pm

Curated by Brianna Toth

Sarah Cathers practices a sort of alchemy with the commingling of materials in her work: an alchemy that seems to emerge through the obsessive artistic process of trial and error. It is these literal concepts of material and process that define her paintings. Having a penchant for faux surfaces, Cathers laboriously paints and repaints the found materials used as her canvases, until they are buried by slathers of pigment. It is this process of repetitive layering and mixing that creates an added dimension of illusion within her work. To do this many things are added into the sludge of oil paint to make the final product including polyurethane, shellac, acrylic, linseed oil, pure powdered pigment, spray paint, ink, water, Vaseline, deodorant, flour, sugar, liquid eyeliner, eye shadow, copper, gold and silver dust. As each element is added, they are allowed to react with the other existing components to make new unexpected shapes and chemical states. As a result of her fixation with process, a tension is created within Cathers’ work. While she draws on her experience as a sculptor by continually forging her medium into new compounds and elements, she maintains a playfulness and freedom with the materials that allows them to take on a life of their own as they coil, coalesce and deteriorate of their own accord.

Sarah Cathers is a San Francisco-based artist and musician. She received her BFA in Sculpture from Ohio State University with a minor in Film/Video in 2002. From 2002 – 2008 she was a member of the experimental noise band 16 Bitch Pile Up. Cathers currently works at San Francisco Film Society as the Director of Operations.