Reporting from London: A Perfect Stand-In, Sarah Dwyer

This is the third post from Darlene Molnar who is currently attending London Design Festival and reporting her terrific finds. So jealous!

I had planned to profile a certain Brazilian painter of pop art exhibiting during London Design Week. Buuuut, when I learned he'd been arrested recently for a DUI I thought I should flip the script and find someone without a convict cloud above them. That’s when a coworker suggested checking out Sarah Dwyer’s exhibition, which was taking place just a few tube stops away. It was the first I heard of Sarah but her bio said she was Irish and I’m headed to Ireland this weekend so it must be fate, right?

The title of Sarah’s Exhibit, Hands Stuffing a Mattress, perked my curiosity. What stuffing a what? She named her exhibition after fellow painter Philip Guston’s inability to make comments about what his paintings meant once saying, “You know, painting is like hands stuffing a mattress.” I’m no painter, but I’ll take that explanation and check it out. And I am so glad I did…

Her abstract paintings are created with layers upon layers of oil paint. Often leaving unfinished canvases in her studio for long periods, Sarah revisits each work several times over, editing and refining, then editing and refining some more. The result is an explosion of color and texture. I think fantastical and ethereal just about sum it up.