Sabine Carlson

 Artist Statement

Sabine Carlson locates her work within the tradition of ambivalence and impermanence. Her paintings show chance encounters between humans and water birds alongside rivers, lakes and the sea. She visualizes scenes where birds and humans appear to be engaged in various kinds of rescue efforts, with humans holding signs, megaphones or orange floats. Often barefoot, they are traversing the landscape wearing costumes or protective clothing. Meanwhile, the birds balance delicately on wondrous feet of sea shells and fins, their stance both steady and uncertain, poised between action and hesitation.

The bird shapes in Carlson’s paintings are inspired by mud hens, diving water birds who migrate to her local surroundings during winter months. In Native American teachings these birds appear as Earth Finders, building the world by bringing up material from the depths of lakes. Traversing the landscapes of Carlson’s paintings, the birds play a major role in creating fleeting presences for ideas of tenderness, risk, and mutual reliance.

Biography

Sabine Carlson is an American painter born in Cologne, Germany, whose work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and internationally. Her paintings are held in public, corporate, and private collections in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Her work has been featured in Studio Visit, American Art Collector, West Branch, and New American Paintings. Carlson received a BFA from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. She has lived and worked in the Mid-Atlantic region since 1995, with her main studio located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Traversing landscape is a recurring theme in Carlson’s work, where humans, water birds, land, and water come together in unexpected and often enigmatic encounters. Her paintings explore questions of movement, balance, place, and the ways we navigate the environments around us.