Sean Landers  (American, 1962) 

Sean Landers (American, b.1962) is an artist who is talented in various different styles and medias. He was born in Palmer, MA, and graduated with a BFA in Sculpture from the Philadelphia College of Art and an MFA in Sculpture from Yale. Landers began his artistic career with the series Art, Life and God, which was exhibited in 1990. The confessional writings that made up the series exemplified Landers’ desire to make honest work. In the first half of the 90s, Landers strove to define himself as an artist through his work, creating wet sculptures and more stream-of-consciousness writings, as well as developing an alternate personality named Chris Hamson. In 1993, Landers exhibited the culmination of his writings at the Venice Biennale. He spent the second half of the 90s exploring more Figurative work with pieces such as Alone (1996), which introduced the figure of the clown into his work. In 1996, Landers continued exploring Figurative work with his 13 piece set based on William Hogarth’s A Midnight Modern Conversation. These pieces have been exhibited more than any of his other work. Landers continued to explore Figurative work through 2003. During this time, he found inspiration in René Magritte’s vache period, as well as in Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), and Marcel Duchamp (French, 1887–1968). Landers also returned to stream-of-consciousness with spoken word pieces such as The Man Within (2000). The clown, introduced in Alone, returned in 2011 with the artist’s Around the World Alone exhibition at the Friedrich Petzel Gallery. Landers’ work has been shown around the world at places such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Saatchi Gallery, London, and the Zurich Kunsthalle. The artist lives and works in New York.