I am curious about the world – about its strange, unpredictable and often incomprehensible phenomena. My current work focuses on the flux of moments or spaces that are coming into being or devolving into inexistence. Through specific gestures such as mapping existing and constructed environments, I attempt to momentarily solidify these tenuous presences and begin to delineate the edge of nothingness. My installations, sculptures and drawings exhibit a spectrum of invisibility to saturation through the layering of material, time and events. I often enter the realm of the imagination as I divert from some grounding in the real (data sets, physical landmarks). The viewer simultaneously encounters the concrete and the speculative, density and transparency.


My final works are ghostly records of systems, spaces and gestures. Fragile, airy forms – hardly visible from a distance – slip between existence and nonexistence yet invite close study of their intricacies. The materials I employ (ranging from neon markers to organic matter) are manipulated to transcend their original identities and become something foreign and arresting. Working systematically in incremental advancements, I develop an intimacy with every shift of form, color and texture of the work. My labor-intensive processes also facilitate a slowly unfolding experience for the viewer. This extended sense of time allows for more nuanced discoveries, fostering the inquisitiveness inherent in looking.






—sarah nance, 2012.