Sarah Buckner, Artist

Sarah Buckner (born in 1984 in Frankfurt, Germany), studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo and at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. She lives and works in Cologne.

Sarah Buckner is a storyteller. In the past her image world was fed by multiple sources: real-life encounters, the dreams that sprang from them, books, and films. Thinking in paint, and through painting, Buckner has developed an intuitive and fluid approach that transforms these impressions through her material practice. Feeling both open-ended and precisely observed, her figures appear to emerge from a fully formed life of which we can catch a momentary glimpse. Bearing traces of the artist’s life—reading, dreaming, imagining—some paintings are lighthearted for reasons we may not know, other images may come across as portraying moments of anxiety, confusion, or hope.

To Buckner the world with all its experiences—literary or otherwise—functions as a poetic springboard. Unafraid of the vulnerability inherent in image making and unconcerned by the need to make us understand exactly what makes an image meaningful to her, Buckner’s paintings develop through her practice, feeling, listening, exploring, painting.

In 2020, Buckner was awarded the Residence NRW+ grant, and will present her work at the Westfällischer Kunstverein in Münster at the conclusion of the residency period. Buckner’s works have been shown in solo and group shows across Europe and North America. Notable group exhibitions include: ¬Salon des Amateures, Tramps, London (2018), Manifesta 12, Lia Pasqualino Noto / Casa Studio, Palermo (2018), Guanto, Institut für Bienenzucht, Cologne (2018), 1001 Bild, Villa de Bank, Enschede (2018), Beyond the Stage, Canongate Venture, Edinburgh (2013).