Marion Fellow Visiting Artist: Sarah McKenzie

Artist Sarah McKenzie visits the Alberta University of the Arts campus for a presentation and discussion.

Artist Sarah McKenzie from Boulder, Colorado presents her visual art followed by a discussion.

Artist Statement

“My paintings capture architecture and the built environment in a state of flux. Past series have depicted suburban sprawl, construction sites, and abandoned, decaying homes and factories. My current body of work explores the architecture of exhibition space: art fair tents, minimalist gallery interiors, and video-screening rooms. These are spaces designed to accommodate the temporary, accepting change and transition as a constant state. These white-walled rooms are at once austere and lavish; makeshift and highly controlled; impersonal and sacred. I am interested in the notion of spectacle and the role that architecture plays in orienting the viewer's experience of a work of art. My paintings also bring up issues of access and audience. As with all my past work, human occupants are notably absent from the gallery spaces I depict; this forces the viewer to consider his or her own position relative to the image.”

Sarah McKenzie is a painter based in Boulder, Colorado. She holds a BA in film studies from Yale University and an MFA in painting from the University of Michigan. McKenzie’s paintings document our built landscape, exploring changes in our architecture (what we build) for evidence of social, economic, and cultural shifts (why we build). Over time, her work has focused on construction sites, abandoned buildings, hotel rooms, and (most recently) the white-walled interiors of museums and galleries. Since early 2020 she has been researching a new project exploring the architecture of prisons.