Sarah Brenneman aims to connect to the viewer through the language of abstraction as the visual representation of everyday experiences filtered through mark making and color. Working in a serial manner, Brenneman combines a structured approach of specific parameters for each series with intuitive decision making to craft her paintings on paper and canvas. Her process involves making dozens of paintings on paper in preparation for each canvas. The works on paper are experimental in nature and are made with many layers of transparent watercolor and opaque gouache. The canvases are larger in format and take on the feel of the paintings on paper without being a direct representation of a specific work. Influenced by American abstract painters such as Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin and Arthur Dove, Brenneman has a distinct voice with a contemporary approach to abstraction.
Brenneman received her degrees in painting from Columbus College of Art (BFA) in 1998 and Virginia Commonwealth University (MFA) in 2000. She has had several solo shows including with Gold Scopophilia (Montclair , NJ) in 2020 and with Jeff Bailey Gallery (New York, NY) in 2011, 2006 and 2004. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally most recently with Garvey I Simon (New York, NY) in 2024 and 2023 and La Grange Gallery, (Reims, France) in 2022. She has been awarded residencies with Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2000), Millay Colony of the Arts (2003), Chashama (2004-2005), Virginia Center for Creative Arts (2021), Liquitex-Just Imagine Residency (2022), VCCA, Moulin à Nef, Auvillar , France (2023) and Xenia, North Hampshire, England (2025). Brenneman has work included in several private and corporate collections including The Aspen Contemporary Art Collection, Citigroup, Cleveland Clinic, Sprint and The Progressive Corporation.
Brenneman (b.1975, Middletown, OH) lives and works in West Orange,
New Jersey.
