Sarah
Plimpton Bio
The
June Kelly Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new
paintings by Sarah Plimpton, titled Alphabet +, reflective of
her resolute interest in the intrigue of the alphabet letter itself.
The exhibition will open on April 20 and remain on view through June
20.
Plimpton, who is both accomplished poet and painter, writes, I have
always loved early pre-historic art. The first lines and
circles made by humans have an incredible force. I wanted to
make lines or signs that had the same force. Those first lines
and circles were eventually arranged for meaning - the alphabet.
In my paintings I often used letters or invented letters. During
Covid I could not get to my studio. I had always dreamed of
either painting or drawing every letter of the alphabet. Covid
gave me a chance to do that. I took up the pencil and drew the
alphabet. Every letter. Once the quarantine was over, I
returned to the studio and painted each one. Shadows and light
for every letter, shadows and light for other paintings.
In this
body of work, Plimpton, ever enthralled with letters of the alphabet
as “capacity for ‘magic,’” illustrates in oil on Yupo Paper, shadows
and light effecting the independent landscape of each letter, (Alphabet
A, 2022). Plimpton experiences her strokes as zen
…calmness channeled by intuitiveness when forming the letters.
With vast spatial ambiguity, limited palette, she craftily anchors
each letter straightforwardly in bold presentation in the picture
plane.
Plimpton’s oil on linen paintings evidence her genius with
improvisation …distinct freehand mark making of invented alphabet
letters appearing as spur-of-the-moment interconnectedness within
hazy abstractions of landscapes. It is the letters themselves
in Plimpton’s alphabet paintings that practically quiver and dance
as communicant of illusions of infinite depth.
“I’m
illustrating letters,” says Plimpton, alphabet or invented…making
them come alive in a different way,” (Altogether Now, 2021).
Plimpton will also show a handmade book that she created with her
illustrations of letters of the alphabet along with text.
Plimpton is a native of New York City. She received a
bachelor’s degree from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts,
and attended Harvard Medical School before moving to Paris, where
she lived for 19 years. She also studied at Pratt Graphics
Center in New York. Her work has been shown in exhibitions in New
York, Paris, and Zurich. She is represented in many important
public and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Heckscher Museum, Jane Voorhees
Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, Columbia University Rare
Books and Manuscript Library, The Harris Collection at Brown
University, New York Public Library, and the Library of Congress.
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Born in New York City
Lived in Paris, 1962-1981
Lives and works in New York City |
Education |
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1982-85 |
Graphics, Pratt Institute, New York |
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1958-61 |
Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA |
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1958 |
BA, Smith College, Northampton, MA |
Solo Exhibitions |
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2019 |
Sarah Plimpton: New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
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2016 |
Black Light: New
Work, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
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2013 |
New Works:
Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
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2010 |
New Work:
Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
Sarah Plimpton: Prints and Artist’s Books, Turtle Point Press,
The Woolworth Building,
New York |
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2009 |
Sarah Plimpton:
Paintings, Artist Books, Works on Paper, Art Forum Ute Barth,
Zurich,
Switzerland |
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2007 |
New Works,
Ober Gallery, Kent, CT |
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2006 |
Over the Edge:
Recent Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York; catalogue |
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2005 |
Recent Works –
Neue Arbeiten, Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich, Switzerland
Paintings, Simon Gallery, Morristown,
NJ |
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2004 |
Sarah Plimpton:
Aquatints, Manhattan Graphics Center, New York |
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2003 |
Monthly Featured
Artist, The Center for Book Arts, New York
New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
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2002 |
Gemälde, Grafiken
und Buchkunst, Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich, Switzerland |
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2001 |
Sarah Plimpton:
Paintings, Prints and Books, The Century Association, New York |
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1999 |
New Paintings,
June Kelly Gallery, New York; catalogue
Sarah Plimpton, Art Forum Ute Barth, Zurich, Switzerland |
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1997 |
New Work,
essay by Frederick Seidel, June Kelly Gallery, New York |
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1996 |
gouaches-gravures, Galerie Lucette Herzog, Paris, France |
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1994 |
New Paintings, June Kelly Gallery, New York
Oils and Gouaches, New York Academy of Sciences |
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1992 |
Poems and Etchings, Books & Co., New York |
Group Exhibitions |
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2018 |
Dessin 33 artistes,
Bruno Mory Gallery, Besanceuil, France
1st Print Biennale, India, National Academy of Art, New Delhi |
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2017 |
Celebrating 30
Years, Gallery Artists: Drawings and Photographs, June Kelly
Gallery, New
York
333 Boxer |
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2013 |
New York - New
Delhi Works on Paper: Ganz, Plimton, Sabharwai, Kumar Shridharani
Gallery, New Delhi, India |
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2012 |
Multiple Encounters
Second Edition, Indo-US Print Exhibition,
Lalit Kala Adademi Galleries, juried
show, New Delhi, India |
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2011 |
1st National
Exhibition of Intaglio Prints, Roberta Waddell, juror,
The New York
Society of Etchers
Multiple, Limited Unique: Selections from the Permanent Collection of
the Center For Book
Arts, The Center for Book
Arts, New York |
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2010 |
The Grenfill Press
Thirty Years of Colloration, Knoedler Project Space, New York
Teacup Show, Rose Burlingham and Turtle Point Press, New York
New Prints 2010/Autumn, juried show, International Print Center,
New York |
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2009 |
Etching and
Monotype, The New York Society of Etchers, curated by Samantha
Rippner of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, The
National Arts Club, New York; will travel to the
Pyramida Center for Contemporary Arts,
Haifa, Israel |
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2006 |
American
Impressions, American Printmaking, juried by Marilyn Kushner,
William
Paterson University, NJ |
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2005 |
New York/Paris
DIALOGUE Paris/New York, curated by Maddy Rosenberg, The Center for
Book Arts, Abrons Art Center, Henry
Street Settlement, New York,
Long Island University, Brooklyn
Campus, Humanities Building Gallery, Cite
Internationale des Arts, Atelier
Lacouriere-Frelaut, Parsons Paris School of
Art and Design, France
10 Artists: Defining Abstraction, organized by the June Kelly
Gallery, Pfizer inc., New York
New Prints/Summer: Etchings, juried show, International Print
Center, New York |
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2004 |
Multiple
Encounters, Indo-US Prints, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the
Arts, New
Delhi, India
Artist Members Show, juried by Mindell Dubansky and Milan
Hughston, The Center For
Book Arts, New York |
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2003 |
Artist Members
Show, juried by Roberta Waddell and May Castleberry, The Center for
Book Arts, New York |
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2002 |
Contemporary
Printmaking, curated by Diane Miller, St. Johns University,
New York
Juried Artist Members Show, The Center for Book Arts, New York
American Days Festival, Manhattan Graphics Center, Galeria Biur
Wystaw
Artystycznych, Sandomierz, Poland,
Erlin Gallery, Budapest, Hungary, and
Majsternia Gallery, Kiev, Ukraine |
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2001 |
Five Printmakers,
Galerie Beckel Odille Boikos, Paris, France
The Hudson River Project, organized by Manhattan Graphics Center,
Hudson River
Gallery, Dobbs Ferry, New York
Print Celebration, Galerie Delta, Paris, France
Selected Works from the Manhattan Graphics Center, Russell-Cotes
Museum,
Bournemouth, England; Galeria
Slad, Elk, Poland; Erlin Gallery, Budapest, Hungary,
and Majsternia Gallery, Kiev,
Ukraine
Juried Artist Members Show, The Center for Book Arts, New York |
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2000 |
Six Women Artists,
Kate Ganz Gallery, New York |
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1999 |
Conversations:
Printmaking and the Artist’s Book, curated by Ann de Vere, Abrons
Art
Center, Henry Street Settlement,
New York
Into Print! Printmaking and Processes, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art
Museum, Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, NJ |
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1998 |
Out of the Center, Artists’ Books from The Center for Book Arts,
Charles E. Shain
Library, Connecticut College, New London, CT
Annual Artists Members Exhibition of Contemporary Bookworks, The
Center for Book Arts,
New York; juried show
Selected Works from Manhattan Graphics Center, Atelier Aubergine,
Sherbrooke, Quebec,
Canada |
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1997 |
The Imaginary City,
Manhattan Graphics Center, New York; juried by David Kiehl,
curator of prints, Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York
New Horizons, Selected Printmakers From Manhattan Graphics Center,
The Royal Society of
Painters-Printmakers, Bankside Gallery, London; Keele University Art
Gallery, Straffordshire, England;
Konstform 2, Norrkoping, Sweden
Today’s Printmaker: Artist and Wordsmith, Hillwood Art Museum,
Long Island
University/CW Post Campus, Brookville,
NY |
Public Collections |
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Heckscher Museum of
Art, Huntington, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
The Harris Collection, Brown University, Providence, RI
Prints and Photographs, Library of Congress, Washington, DC
Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University, New York
The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New
Haven, CT
New York Public Library
Bibliothèque Jacques Doucet, Paris, France
Special Collections Boston University Library, Providence, RI
Special Collections, Temple University Library, Philadelphia, PA
Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Special Collections, University of Western Michigan, Kalamazoo, MI
Special Collections, Smith College, Northampton, MA
Special Collections, Swarthmore College, PA |
 
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