This painted cast-iron pan entitled ‘Skillet Study: Yolanda’, exemplifies Alison Saar’s ability to transform a discarded, ordinary object into an artwork infused with renewed life. Using the base of the skillet as the foundation for her work, Saar paints her subject’s portrait with a haunting visage that blends with the cast iron material. Often pairing dualities together such as strength and vulnerability, happiness and despair, or freedom and oppression, Saar reconceptualizes the role of the individual in African American art and history. Confronting the viewer unabashedly, ‘Yolanda’ stands for the ironic commentary regarding her still being viewed as an object, as opposed to a human being, free from judgment, bias, and oppressive stereotypes.

Contemporary artist Alison Saar (b. 1956) employs a range of influences and archetypes when creating her work, deeply rooted in mythology, folklore, tradition, and spirituality. Addressing ideas of humanity, identity, and diaspora through contemporary expression, Saar draws inspiration from her diverse background and combines it with the extensive cast-off objects she finds for her art. Creating sculptures and paintings that are at once profound and captivating in both their visual and spiritual engagement, she adds a deeply personal note to her work which resonates with the viewer. Saar has received numerous awards over the course of her career including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship. The artist has exhibited at numerous venues including the San Diego Museum of Art (Sand Diego, CA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), and Hirshhorn Museum (Washington, DC), among others.

Select Public Collections:
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY)
Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY)
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC)
J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles, CA)
Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN)