Sarah Schlesinger

Sarah Schlesinger’s paintings explore the psychology of looking through intimate, subtly-toned landscapes in which hedgerows, waves, bushes and other barriers partially obscure the view. Working on a small scale, she constructs imagined scenes that balance precise perspectival structures with moments of visual ambiguity, positioning the viewer at the threshold between revelation and concealment. Shadows, false symmetries and dissolving forms subtly disrupt spatial certainty, transforming familiar motifs into landscapes imbued with metaphor and mystery. Through this restrained visual language, Schlesinger investigates perception and the act of looking, creating paintings that suggest what remains hidden may be as significant as what is revealed.

Sarah Schlesinger was born in Pennsylvania in 1988. In 2010, she received a BFA in Studio Art from Taylor University, Indiana, before completing an MFA in Sculpture at the New York Academy of Art, New York, in 2015. She undertook a residency at Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul (2014), and received the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and the Chubb Postgraduate Fellowship, New York Academy of Art (2015), before participating in the Adventure Painting Residency, Yellowstone (2023) and being featured in New American Paintings, Issue 176 (2025). Select solo exhibitions include Savage Garden, Workplace Foundation, Newcastle upon Tyne (2023); Eye Level, Huxley-Parlour, London (2024); Two Trees, Tennis Elbow, Journal Gallery, New York (2024); and a forthcoming solo exhibition at Huxley-Parlour, London (2026). Select group exhibitions include Time + Place, Huxley-Parlour, London (2024); Obstructed View, Main Projects, Richmond, Virginia (2025); and Elemental Hours, Slip House, New York (2026). Schlesinger currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.