Umbra: Special 2022 Benefit Edition

Alison Saar’s Umbra presents a striking three-color image on the back of a cast iron pan. The visage of a Black woman crowned with an afro is in turn ringed by a second circle, a burst of white light. The representation suggests both a celestial event (a solar or lunar eclipse) and the presence of a haloed spiritual being. This duality echoes through its sculptural shape–are we seeing the bottom of a frying pan or a reflection in a hand mirror? Like apparitions of the Virgin Mary that miraculously appear in mundane, Saar finds the magic in the scenes and the stuff of everyday life. Originally rendered in woodcut then transferred to silkscreen, the prints preserve blocky high contrast of a technique that Saar relates to her sculptural practice of wood carving. The use of the circular form and gendered tool echoes Saar’s work Fanning the Fire, presented at Socrates in 1988. Printed by Flying Saucer Press, Inc.

Edition of 12 with 5 A.P.’s
Created exclusively for the https://socratessculpturepark.org/program/2022-benefit/” Celebrate Socrates: 2022 Benefit Party
Courtesy of Alison Saar and LA Louver Gallery

PRESS

The Art Newspaper, September 22, 2022. “https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2022/09/21/alison-saar-socrates-sculpture-park-benefit-auction” Out of the frying pan and into the future: new Alison Saar limited edition work hints at both the domestic and the celestial.”

About the Artist