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"Sarah Needham is an artist and academic interested in unearthing hidden histories of humanity, taking into her conceptual sway the likes of piracy, the colonial slave trade and the witch hunts of the 17th century. She does this via a painstaking archeological extrapolation and finessing of pigments from the earth[ and material history] , which she then employs to create abstract Rothko-esque canvases that seem to invite the viewer into contemplation of the infinite. Her practice hinges very much upon the notion that the very material she uses to create her art carries meaning in-and-of-itself – with pigments broken down by pestle and mortar that have their roots in the political and social upheavals of history. The key postulation being that the critical deconstruction of the material history of very ordinary things, such as plates and crockery, can give us all access to a common universality of being. In fact, all of the hues present in her works tell stories of the geological history of the earth and the overlooked everyday human interactions that shape our history."
John Paul Pryor, Secrets and Lies:The Artist Sarah Needham on abstracting hidden histories into profound emotional encounters, Culture Collective Journal, 31.3.23 on the housecollective.com platform |
Artist Statement
Evoking a sense of space with colour and tone, Sarah Needham makes work in collections. Each collection has a research base in the way pigments leave a trace across geography and time of our human interconnection and interactions. For each work there is a metaphoric relationship between the way the paint is laid on the surface, and the actual pigments that have been found, and the central meaning that is being explored. Prompted by events in the present Sarah seeks out historical events or places that echo the human condition. In abstract each piece explores what it is to be alive.
Currently Sarah is using pigments collected from the earth of villages where women lived, who were accused during the witch panics of the 15-1600s in England. Added to these she is using pigments in use at the time in local dying industries. She is exploring ideas the spread of ideas, new technologies, power structures in flux, fear, anxiety and what it means when people are classed as less than human. This sits in the background of the new work, and the processes involved in making it.
Bio: Sarah Needham lives and works in North London, she was born in Lincolnshire and grew up in the South West of England, on the edge of the New Forest. She spent two years living in China in the 1990s. She is a graduate artist with an international clientele.
Exhibitions
2024
Autumn Winter Show, Silson Contemporary, Harrogate Sept-Jan
The Earth Beneath Her Feet, solo show , Broadworks by Hive, Broad Street London, EC1 August
Open Studios 30 June and 6 and 7 July as part of East Finchley Open.
Pop Up and workshop Pop Up at Toast Hampstead May 30-2 June2024
Matter of Threads, Paint Spaces Gallery, 167 Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead NW6 3AU April 24
The Other Art Fair, Los Angeles, USA April 2024
Metaphoric Materials, Solo show at the Meantime pop up space in Hampstead Hampstead Feb 5-16th,
2023
Manchester Art Fair, 17-19 November
Through the Looking Glass, The Mall Galleries, Aug 28-3Sept
Residency Talk, Pasture Project Space Residency 12 Nov
Open Studios: 1-2 July
The Other Art Fair Chicago April2023
The Other Art Fair, London March 23
Silson Contemporary Autumn/Winter Show end Jan 2021
Residency at the Pasture Project Space, Suffolk Feb 23
Thomas Spencer Fine Art, Bath by invitation only, and new catalogue Summer-Autumn
2022
Broomhill Estate, Devon, ongoing group exhibition 22-23
The Other Art Fair, Los Angeles, Nov 22
The Other Art Fair, Brick Lane London, 17-20th March
Connect Art Fair with Thomas Spencer Fine Art at the Mall Galleries London, 23-27 March
Colour in Abstraction, The Art Buyer Gallery, Thames Ditton, 2022
Silson Contemporary Autumn /Winter Show, Harrogate, Yorkshire
The Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair with Thomas Spencer Fine Art , London January 25-30
2021
Winter Art and Antiques Fair, Olympia: Thomas Spencer Fine Art 21
Solo Exhibition of work at Vintners Place, selected by Eleni Polycarpou 2021
Letters From a Strange Year Blue exhibition, online
The Other Art Fair, London October 21
Bath Decorative Antiques Fair: Thomas Spencer Fine Art 21
The Decorative Arts and Antiques Fair Thomas Spencer Fine Art,Lond
Summer Exhibition at Silson Contemporary, Harrogate 2021
The Other Side at Irving Contemporary,, Oxford, 2021
The Affordable Art Fair with the Kahn Gallery, Battersea, 2021
Letters From a Strange Year Pop up 1,London E2, 26-29 April. 2021
Sarah Needham Solo, curated by June Frickleton, 1 Kings Hill and Control Tower Gallery, group show Kings Hill, Kent Feb-May 22
Online Artist Project with events
Letters From a Strange Year, joint artist project with Paul Anderson 21-22
2020
Autumn Show, Silson Contemporary Art Gallery, Harrogate, 2021
Water | Land, Irving Contemporary Art, Oxford, Jan21
Artist Walks, 4a Sutton Road, N10 1HE, 14Nov-14Dec20, community Art Project responding to the lockdown exhibiting in domestic windows across North London.
Summer Show, Gallery Artists, Silson Contemporary Art Gallery Summer show August-September 202
Unframed Highgate Contemporary Unframed online show May 2020
V-Art.Show Online open studios April/May /June editions 2020
Art on a Postcard with Highgate Contemporary Art in aid of Feed NHS sold out April 2020
The Other Art Fair Online Studios, on Saatchi online April to October2020
Beyond Other Horizons: Contemporary paintings made in Britain and Romania, Iasi Palace of Culture, Iasi Romania. 1st- 31st March 2020. The exhibition will open on 3rd March 2020 with a British Council Symposium.Curated by Anna McNay, Peter Harrap and Florin Ungurianu closed early due to CV then extended to April
Mid-Winter Show, Silson Contemporary Art Gallery, Harrogate, 2020
Late 2019
Makers and Craftsmen Project, curated interior by Bergman and Mar, Chiswick to winter 20
Kahn Gallery at the Affordable Art Fair, Hamburg 14-17 November 2019
Luminaire Arts Gallery, Beyond Abstracts, 7 Denbigh St London SW1V 2HF Nov-Dec 2019
Recent Competitions and Juried Shows
2023 Through the Looking Glass, The Mall Galleries, Swanfall
2019 Makers and Craftsmen, Curated by Bergman and Mar,
2018 The Black Swan Open selected by Johnny Messum, of Messums Wiltshire, Michael Eaves of Glastonbury Festival, Steve Burden Artist, Debbie Hilliyard of Hauser and Wirth, Sue Conrad Artist
2018 Long listed for the Secret Art Prize selected by gallerist Eleni Duke
2017 Creekside Open- selected by Jordan Baseman senior tutor at The Royal college of Art
Representation:
Galleries
Thomas Spencer Fine Art, London and Bath, Somerset UK
Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery, Highgate High Street, London, N6
Luminaire Arts Gallery, Vauxhall, London SW1V 2HF
Silson Contemporary Art Gallery, Harrogate Yorks
The Art Buyer, Thames Ditton, Surrey
Online Sales Platforms with Art Agencies
Artling
RiseArt
Saatchiart
Singulart
Artists Agents
Cramer and Bell, London, UK
Luminaire Arts, London, UK
Verdigris Lodon UK
Artling, Singapore
Artful London UK
The Artbridge, UK
Collections: Held in private collections in the UK, Switzerland, France, Australia, USA, the Middle East and Japan
Education
Royal College Of Art, London, Student MA Painting 2024-5
Graduated with a degree in Fine Art and Education from Hatfield Polytechnic 1989, Masters Degree in Development Studies from South Bank University1994 and studied traditional Chinese Sumi-e ink painting under Prof Ding in Jiangxi China 2015-7
Previous Exhibitions/Fairs
The Other Art Fair, Brooklyn, New York Nov 2019
Corby Glenn Project, t Willoughby Gallery, Corby Glenn Sept-Oct 2019
The Affordable Art Fair, Kahn Gallery, Battersea, London October 2019
Curious Duke Gallery, Mixed Show,London EC1, 6/19
Open Studios, EFO Open Art Houses , 29-30 June 1-2Jul
The Other Art Fair London, Truman Brewery March 2019
Curious Duke Gallery, Winter show London December-Jan 2018-19
The Black Swan Open, Frome BA11 1BB
The Other Art Fair Brooklyn, New York USA November 7-11 2018
SFSA Painting, No Format Gallery/ Deptford Does Art, Deptford, London December 2018
Highgate Contemporary Art Gallery, Mixed Painting , Highgate High St, London 2018
The Other Art Fair London London WC1 4-7 October 2018
Free Painters and Sculptors at the Muse Gallery Oct 18
The Curious Duke Gallery Summer Exhibition: London EC1Y2018
The Other Art Fair, Bristol, 26-29 July 2018
The London Open 2018 , ICI on digital display on screen at the Whitechapel Gallery June-September 2018
East Finchley Open Artist’s Houses June30-July1 and July7- 8 2018
Ideal Home Show- London, Why Not Art stand - digital display and catalogue 17.3-2.4.18
Trace Elements, Deptford Does Art Gallery, Deptford High St, London 8-28 Feb 2018
Tower 42, Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1HQ . Jan - April2018
SFSA Painting Open 17, No Format Gallery, 7-18 December 2017
Creekside Open 2017 selected by Jordan Baseman, APT Gallery May 2017
Art Fair Malaga, Palacio de Ferias y Congresses de Malaga, Malaga 2017: Exhibited digitally.
Small Experiments in Colour, Queen's Wood Cafe, Highgate June 2017
Talented Artist Fair, Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1
The Thames: The ARTery of London, Curator: Angus Pryor, St Katharine Docks Dec2016
Sugar And Spice, Devon House, St Katherine Docks: Curator: Angus Pryor Aug- Sept2016
Both Ends Of Madness, Sassoon Gallery Folkestone. Curator: Angus Prior 22July 2016
Nautical Perspectives, St Katherine Docks, curated by Angus Pryor May 2016
Whenever I feel Blue I Start Breathing, Earl's Court Project Rooms, June -July 2016
Open Studios: Open Art Spaces, Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea June-July 2016
Open studios:Kensington and Fulham Open Art Spaces, Pocket Arts 2015
Place and Proximity, Austin Forum, Hammersmith, Pocket Arts 2015
Refuse Reuse, Kensington, Pocket Arts 2015
Microtopia, Kingsgate Workshops, West Hampstead 2014
Microtopia, Kingsgate Workshops, West Hampstead 2013
Community Art Projects and Interactive Events
Interactive Events / Community Arts
Residency Talk Pasture Project Space Residency Autumn 2023
Letters From a Strange Year Project 2021: Symposium and interactive events coordinated online delivering a collaborative exhibition in the real world
Willoughby Gallery Project:Oral history collecting, local research, children’s workshop, interactive gallery in the Solo show 2019
Live Painting Tower 42 London, 2018
In conversation with Rosalind Davis: Rosalind Davis interview at Trace Elements 2017
Both Ends of Madness Symposium, Thursday 21st July 6-8pm Sassoon Gallery Folkestone 2016
Photographs taken by Dani Tagen
