ABOUT:
Sarah Grass draws allegorical creatures in psychedelic scenes of material violence, bodily disarticulation, and perverse joy. With ink, colored pencil, and watercolor on paper, the Chilean-American artist treads complex regions of human consciousness. Her characters symbolize hidden meanings buried within ourselves—exposing the impressions that life events leave on our souls. The Phallic Female series, which Grass began in 2020, centers on a female dachshund whose form resembles a phallus. This semi-erotic pet has become the signature protagonist of the uncanny world that Grass builds across her compositions. The dog appears in psychologically intense situations thatsurface human feelings and issues of identity. Throughout this body of work, the animal experiences physical disintegration, environmental disassociation, and emotional misconnection. Femininity and masculinity, suffering and healing, anguish and ecstasy hang in the balance in these vignettes. The dachshund assumes fluid states of being—operating both within and outside of the patriarchal systems and social boundaries to which her human counterparts are subjected.

Grass received an MFA in Art Practice as well as a BFA in Fine Arts from theSchool of Visual Arts. Her work has been exhibited in the United States and internationally at venues such as Spring Break Art Fair, New York, NY (2022/2020); Deanna Evans Projects, New York, NY (2023); Satellite Art Club, Brooklyn, NY (2021); Eve Leibe Gallery, London (2021); The Ferry Gallery, Bangkok (2018); New School for Social Research, New York, NY (2016); and the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX (2015).