Art Therapy

Talking to artists makes us think about life. Here’s a little wisdom from Sarah Amos

What inspired this body of work?
Most of this work has been abstract landscape based. This body of work has come out of two years worth of exploration of scientific data—maps, geology, mining, seismic maps. I’m really interested in multiple layering of information. So some of them have to do with tectonic shifts, some have to do with weather, it’s a mélange of different ideas but most of it comes down to basic map making and landscapes—the scientific and conceptual themes are something new.

The images bridge the rural and city existence—they’re an attempt to navigate both of those.

Why prints?
I’ve been printmaking for about 25 years. I come from a long line of Australian muralists and landscape artists. Printmaking was one of the few arenas that was spoken for so I went into that, and fell in love with it. I came to the US to get more training and studied at the Cameron institute of Lithography.

What do you hope people think about when they look at your prints?
The most important thing to me is that they’re engaged. I really love the word obfuscation—where layers of layers of drawing are slow to reveal themselves through the surface. I hope that people spend a fair bit of time investigating. This sort of work asks you to look at these pieces microscopically; I hope it will challenge the viewers.

What was the last thing that made you feel this way?
I really love aerial photography. For example, Edward Burtynsky, a fantastic German photographer who files around the world taking photographs of incredible abstract landscapes.

Three things you can’t live without?
Vegemite, my pet dog Monkey, and drawing.

Check out Sarah's work at the Cynthia Reeves Gallery in New York City through November 14, 2009. Learn more about the artist here and look at more photos from the Collector's Circle event here.