Sarah Buckner
Sarah Buckner was born in 1984 in Frankfurt, Germany. She studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Palermo and at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf. Buckner lives and works in Cologne.
Sarah Buckner image world is inspired by multiple sources: real-life encounters, the dreams that spring 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. The figures and situations she depicts appear both open-ended and precisely observed, as if emerging from a fully formed narrative of which viewers can only catch a momentary glimpse. The works exude an interiority reminiscent of dreams, where an object can be many incongruous things simultaneously and signify opposite meanings without contradiction. Buckner’s paintings develop through her lived practice – reading, dreaming, imagining—and bear traces of these experiences: some are lighthearted, whereas others may come across as portraying moments of anxiety, confusion, or hope. Her works distill narratives into images full of mystery, their atmospheric scenes resonating with emotional potency—the exact nature of which remains elusive, even to the artist, she says.
In 2020, Sarah Buckner was awarded the Residence NRW+ grant, and at the conclusion of the residency period presented her work in the solo exhibition Head over Heels at the Westfälischer Kunstverein in Münster in 2021.
Buckner’s works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions across Europe. Notable exhibitions include: Jeden kleinen Finger, sogar, Esther Schipper, Berlin (2023); nun lasst uns am Rhein zusammen treffen, um gemeinsam zu vergessen, dass ein Fluss auch eine Grenze sein kann, Kunst im Hafen e.V., Düsseldorf (2023); Sarah Buckner, London Arts Club, London (2023); when it's at the tip of your tongue, Kunstverein Bad Godesberg (2022); Salon des Amateurs, Tramps, London (2018), Lia Pasqualino Noto / Casa Studio, curated by Geraldine Blais, Manifesta 12, Palermo (2018); Guanto, Institut für Bienenzucht, Cologne (2018); 1001 Bild, Villa de Bank, Enschede (2018); Beyond the Stage, Canongate Venture, Edinburgh (2013).