Sarah Drasner

Bio

Sarah Drasner's work is an exploration of the methods we use to perceive the world around us. Drasner has exhibited her work in Chicago and San Francisco. Recent San Francisco exhibitions include “The Clique Show” at the Swell Gallery, “The Continuing MFA Show” and “Reality Bites” at the Diego Rivera Gallery. Drasner received her BFA in Painting and Printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2002. She will receive her MFA from The San Francisco Art Institute in December 2007. Sarah Drasner lives and works in San Francisco.

Statement

My new series of etchings act as a visual breakdown of my thinking process as I reflect on present-day socio-political issues. Employing the tropes of old Enlightenment Era encyclopedias, as well as my own training as a scientific and medical illustrator, my work expresses lineages of thought as I code each element in contextual meaning. I glean my imagery from a myriad of sources, among them dictionaries, news broadcasts, biology textbooks, comic books, and instruction manuals, drawing connections between disparate sources through metaphor and visual codes.

These works are small in scale, ranging from 5” x 7” to 8” x10,” and are hard ground etchings on Somerset paper. Through the use of this antiquated medium, I comment on current affairs that intrigue me, drawing upon the classical to bring light to the contemporary.