Larsen Warner is extremely pleased to present Where Muses Dare, a solo exhibition of new paintings by British artist Sara Berman. This is Berman’s first solo exhibition in Sweden, and follows on from her inclusion in the group exhibition The Body Electric shown at the gallery in January 2024. The exhibition presents an enthralling suite of 12 recent oil paintings on linen examining the societal constructs of the female experience and creating stories for each character within the paintings to navigate and explore.  

To Berman, painting is a game of materiality. Bright oil stains of neon pinks and incandescent orange seem to pulsate and gradually appear from underneath shadowy swathes of rich greens and petrol blues. Through the visceral qualities of paint Berman’s physical process of scraping, wiping, smudging and brushing creates an almost bruised like quality to the paintings surface. Over time, the original diamond patterned background referencing a harlequin’s costume is obliterated, instead, the characters emerge from the violence of their own making, exerting a power and inner strength, holding your gaze or back turned as if in silent contemplation.

Berman is influenced by the way in which the female body is held by clothing, both as a space to occupy and as a societal construct. Her understanding of cloth and textiles as well as a deep fascination with clothing as an inhabited space is very much embedded in Berman’s practice. In an increasingly performative process, vintage and historic garments are sourced and then worn by the artist as part of the early stages of the making process in a series of photographic recordings. This photographic source material act as the early building blocks for each painting, with Berman herself reimagined through the various characters that she portrays. Berman’s use of costumes and props in her paintings blur the line between reality and fiction. By taking on various personas and dissecting the role of the artist as a creator, her work invites viewers to consider the multiple facets of human existence and the ever-shifting nature of identity. This roleplay of character and personas also removes Berman from the sense of self-portraiture within the work, instead creating paintings that feel more abstracted from herself.

Aiming to reflect our current times while incorporating historical influences, Berman’s practice addresses the personal, the political, the celebration, and the horrors of being who we are as individuals in this moment of our collective history. Berman’s enigmatic paintings raise questions about the authenticity of images and the self and challenges conventional notions of identity, gender, and representation. The exhibition presents an artist who continues to explore both inwards and outwards, excavating her past while absorbing new experiences and memories of the world around her.

Sara Berman was born in 1975 in the UK, and lives and works in London. She studied fashion (BA) at Central Saint Martins in the 1990s and worked in fashion before studying for her MFA at Slade UCL in 2016. Recent exhibitions include Lapdogs and Fools, Vielmetter, Los Angeles (2024); Home is where the Art is, De Kunsthal, Rotterdam (2022); Like there is hope and I can dream of another world, Hospital Rooms in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth, Hauser & Wirth, London, UK (2022); Summer Exhibition 2021, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2021); No Visible Means of Support, Kristin Hjellegerde (2021). Berman’s work can be found in the collection of The House of KOKO, London; The Poort Visser collection, Netherlands; The Maison Estelle, London, UK; The RO2 Art Collection and the Montparnasse Collection, Canada.