The basis for my paintings initially started with making drawings and taking photos of branches and brambles and progressed into automatic writing as a way to find a visual metaphor for a complicated perspective. “I was really looking for a way to draw – in a non linear way– to represent my non-linear life.” As Egan was trying to do this she went to a lecture and did some reading on the Complexity Theory (Hamid Benbrahim and Great Mesczoely; Suffolk University). “I was encouraged that my search for representation was actually being explored on larger scale in the Math and Sciences.” The theory is that very complex situations, full of seemingly random events, eventually end up in patterns and systems, which can then develop into a form or an equation. This is useful in the Math and Sciences because it can be used as a predictor and it can also be used to explain structure.
Using the ideas behind this theory she created a method of working in layers. Each layer has a relationship of color and form and then another layer is added that creates a more complex relationship. “Plaster ended up being a great medium for this because I have less control with plaster than I do with paint. I actually don’t know how the plaster is going to dry. This leads to paintings that sometimes have a balance that I would not be able to get if I were completely in control.”
Sara Egan works in a variety of mediums including painting drawing and large scale work collaborating with architects. She recently completed murals for the Christian Science Center and a project for the International Health Institute. She has shown internationally and in New York and she is represented in private and corporate collections. She is currently teaching at Wentworth Institute of Technology this past fall semester and Merrimack College for the spring semester.
Sara Egan work is grounded in modernism with an emphasis on balance and bold color. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania (MFA) and at the Bellas Artes in Madrid, Sara began her art career working in theatre and on large-scale installation projects.
