Sarah Lee was born in San Francisco, and currently lives and works in the Bay Area. She has studied illustration and received her BFA at Art Center College of Design, and has completed a MFA for painting at California College of the Arts. Although originally a painter, Sarah has transitioned into sculpting. She is a self-taught sculptor, and most of the skills – welding, bondo, resin, fiberglass, and auto body painting - were learned from mechanics and body men working at her father’s auto body shop. She occupies a small room on the first floor of the auto body shop, which was originally a storage space and eventually became her studio. To this day, she is constantly learning from these men, who have now become good friends. The armatures of her bigger sculptures are made of welded scrap auto body parts salvaged from unfortunate customers’ cars in need of repair. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” In stark contrast with her metal work interior structure, Sarah meticulously manipulates and glues organic materials: eggshells, to convey themes of fragility and vulnerability in her work.
Artist Statement
Eggshells are fragile empty houses that are abandoned after birth; they become lifeless and no longer serve a purpose. Sarah uses eggshells in her art to create, to up cycle, and to give another life to the material used. Eggshells and the scales of reptiles are similar in that they both provide a thin layer of protection, acting as a shield, but a vulnerable and fragile one. Sarah creates sculptures of animals that reveal fragility, vulnerability, insecurity, human emotions, awkwardness, odd self-inflicting behaviors, adaptation and survival. She crossbreeds Charles Darwin’s theory of “Survival of the Fittest” in order to enforce the power of adaptation and survival, to amplify these emotions that are underrepresented.
IG: srhlee
