Sarah Buckner Hello, 2023

A dissolution of realistic background settings enables Buckner to release her figures and allow them to explore the boundaries and depths of the abstracted scenarios in which they appear to roam. A sense of abandonment and experimentation with established formal concerns is demonstrated in the singular work, Hello, which embraces pinkish saccharine hues that briefly embody a sense of superficial cuteness. A register that quickly collapses when connecting the printed dots on the fabric as being perhaps a subtle reference to Sigmar Polke’s use of dots to abstract the human form towards illegibility. This humorous process is employed ostensibly to question the seriousness of Post-War art historical canons such as Pop Art, Formalism and Abstraction. Buckner fleetingly expresses a similar stance in her approach to this uncharacteristic painting, diminishing the fleshy amorphous organism’s features to create an ambiguous but absorbing oddity.