SANDRA CAVANAGH

ARTIST BIO

Sandra Cavanagh's young life was pitched on the growing awareness of political instability, coups d’état, an overbearing patriarchal society and the dangers of state-sanctioned brutality and censorship. She was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of mixed ethnic heritage. She read Social Sciences at the University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, before emigrating to California and later to the UK, where she completed a Foundation and a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts at the Kent Institute of Art and Design, University of Kent. She returned to full residency in the United States in 2010 and has worked and resided in New York City ever since. Her effort to find a public platform is very recent.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I sustain a mostly figurative focus in reaction to current and historical narratives, including my own. Recent global events have led me to considerations of mortality and loss of innocence in transgenerational stories, the usefulness of art’s centuries old regard of myth, foundational stereotypes and the mundane occurrence of violence. Maintaining a consistent practice, I have developed a large portfolio of work, including paintings, drawings and prints. I take intervals with the painting of still life and portraiture. Interested in the pairing of form and message and formal variations on a theme, I have often worked in series, creating pictorial storylines with some urgency to exhaust the subject and form to the point of understanding or unburdening myself of it. The result is an annotation of feelings underscoring a dramatic approach to form and message.