SARAH MCENEANEY: Recent Paintings
Alex and Andy’s Phippsburg ME, 2025, acrylic and collage on panel, diptych, 36 x 48 inches
April 4, 2025 - May 24, 2025
Public reception: April 4, 5:30 – 8 pm
Steven Zevitas Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Philadelphia-based artist Sarah McEneaney. The exhibition will be on view through May 24, 2025, with an opening reception on Friday, April 4, from 5:30 - 8pm.
In McEneaney’s work, the everyday and seemingly mundane are elevated and venerated. She often refers to her autobiographical and highly intimate paintings as “creative nonfiction,” a realm in which the emotional impact of spaces and stories take precedence over pure documentation. The private locations McEneaney depicts are presented without any sense of hierarchy– all elements in each painting are equally considered—a reminder that to her, every detail of our daily lives is worth careful consideration. This sense of integrated “wholeness” is reinforced by the intuitive way in which McEneaney constructs space; she has an ability to make perspective malleable and cater it to a painting’s specific needs.
Recent Paintings presents vignettes of everyday activities: a day painting in the studio, a journey to the dog park, a slow morning, and a respite in Maine. The artist’s home and studio have been primary subjects for McEneaney since 1979. The passage of time is made manifest not just between individual paintings, but within each scene. In Studio Early 2025, many years’ worth of paint covers the ground and walls, and we see evidence of works in progress, including ones presented in Recent Paintings. Portraits of animal companions, past and present, line the top of the wall. Though the artist is physically absent, every object and mark speak to her presence. This intimate window into her process reiterates an omnipresent sentiment that art and daily life are inextricably linked.
A number of works in Recent Paintings were made during and after several trips to Maine, where McEneaney has spent a great deal of time. In these paintings we see the artist in a state of rest and mental repose. In Brassua Lake Rockwood ME, the artist seems engrossed in observationally painting the landscape as her dog, Lana, looks back at her expectantly. The nag of responsibility that comes hand in hand with nurturing is knocking at the door, but in this moment, her bare feet touch the wooden planks, her pen glides across the paper, and her phone remains face-down.
SARAH MCENEANEY (b. 1955 Munich, Germany) lives and works in Philadelphia and attended The University of the Arts and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Venues of solo exhibitions include The Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia), Mills College Art Museum (Oakland, California), and The Chinati Foundation (Marfa, Texas). Public Collections include The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, The Hood Museum, and Mills College Art Museum, and Delaware Art Museum, among others. McEneaney has received many awards throughout her career, including an Anonymous Was a Woman Grant, a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, and residencies at Ballinglen Arts Foundation, The Chinati Foundation, MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo.