Sarah J. Mueller
Without reference imagery or the intention of accurate likeness, I explore if a presence can be felt through recollection alone. The process resists my training in figurative drawing and portraiture, inviting an instinctive and intuitive way of painting where raw gestures, atmosphere, and abstraction overtake precision. Each work begins in transparent washes that accumulate until a figure claws its way forward, settling into a moment that feels both distant and familiar. I’m interested in capturing the space between feeling and observation, when emotional tension is transferred and what was once seen can be sensed.
Sarah J. Mueller (b. 1993) is an artist and art educator based in Jersey City with a practice in painting and mixed media installation. Throughout her studies, she simultaneously worked for years in memory-care units of long term health care facilities, an experience that deepened her sensitivity to the ways memory shifts, and formed a perspective that continues to guide how she approaches perception and presence in her work. Mueller has designed and led art programs in schools, museums, healthcare facilities, and youth detention centers throughout Michigan, NYC, and New Jersey alongside her painting practice that merges figurative painting and abstraction. She currently works out of her studio at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, NJ. She teaches and mentors youth in their creative pursuits in Montclair, New Jersey.