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2021 BFA Senior Interview: Sarah Valente

Distorted image of the lower half of a face that drips off the bottom of the frame
Self Portrait, 36 x 63, oil and acrylic.

Sarah Valente (she/her):

Sarah Valente is a graduate of The College of New Jersey with a BFA in Studio Art and a minor in Graphic Design. She currently resides in Wayne, New Jersey. She is a painter/sculptor looking to work in installation and expand on her experience as an artist assistant.  Valente’s work is an exploration of materiality in her reflection of uncanny and abject themes as they relate to the body. As far as her future, there are many things that she wishes to do.  She will continue her practice, but she wants to be an artist assistant, and also learn about furniture design, most specifically chair design.

She further expresses, “Chairs are the most personal pieces of furniture, and I want to create crazy custom pieces because exploration of materials is a huge part of my work. Furniture is functional sculpture.”

The artist has also expressed that she plans to open up craCk Art Gallery with colleague Lily Gilston before they are both 30.

Her senior exhibition piece, Dismemorabilia is an expression of women as abject object, the epitome of boundless, leaking, unstable and disjointed parts. Using paint as a literal interpretation of the fluid, the invasive quality of the painting and dismembered imagery serves to explore the object’s connection to horror and its psychological implication on women.  Her piece, Boundary is an unstable portal. Mirrors are a symbol of our awareness, and Boundary serves as an in-between of conscious/unconscious self: a reflection of ourselves uncontained

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