Space for imaginative actions: Kunstmuseum, Bonn.

Group Exhibition 8 May 2022–31 January 2024

'Space for imaginative actions'

Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Sarah Ball, Elise, 2021, permanent loan Sammlung Scharpff-Striebich, photo: Stephen Friedman Gallery.

On the occasion of the institution’s 30th anniversary, Kunstmuseum Bonn presents a comprehensive survey of its collection of contemporary art across twenty rooms. ‘Space for imaginative actions’ offers fresh perspectives on key figures, movements and subjects, as well as showcasing some of the world’s most innovative contemporary artists.

Participating artists include: Adam Adach, Horst Antes, Thomas Arnolds, Ed Atkins, Monika Baer, Sarah Ball, Rolf Bier, Bernhard Johannes und Anna Blume, John Bock, Reto Boller, Shannon Bool, Peter Brüning, Angela Bulloch, Michael Buthe, Thomas Demand, Jadé Fadojutimi, Max Frintrop, Bruno Goller, Tamara Grcic, Lotta Hannerz, Hans Hartung, Charline von Heyl, Gerhard Hoehme, Stephan Huber, Olav Christopher Jenssen, Maximilian Kirmse, Jürgen Klauke, Imi Knoebel, Christof Kohlhöfer, Michel Majerus, Nanne Meyer, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Albert Oehlen, Susanne Paesler, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Rentmeister, Gerhard Richter, Rolf Rose, Jörg Sasse, Thomas Scheibitz, Kristina Schuldt, Bernard Schultze, Andreas Schulze, Emil Schumacher, Norbert Schwontkowski, Wiebke Siem, Andreas Slominski, Fred Thieler, Rosemarie Trockel, Corinne Wasmuht, Markus Weggenmann and Birgit Werres.

Sarah Ball - Stephen Friedman Gallery London. 28th January - 27th February

Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to present its first solo exhibition by British artist Sarah Ball.

Gallery 1: 25-28 Old Burlington St, W1S 3AN

Gallery 2: 11 Old Burlington St, W1S 3AQ

Mayfair, London, United Kingdom

T: +44 (0) 20 7494 1434

info@stephenfriedman.com

Frieze New York: The Shed, Hudson Yards, Manhattan 5 - 9 May 2021

Stephen Friedman Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by British artist Sarah Ball at Frieze New York 2021. This will be the first major presentation of the artist’s work since the gallery announced representation of Ball in November 2020. 

The works on display are a continuation of the artist’s ongoing series of meticulously rendered portraits examining themes of gender and identity. This new body of paintings revisits some of the artist’s previous subjects by realising their portraits on a larger scale, thus allowing Ball to “open up” and explore the “physicality of painting” further. The artist references material such as newspaper cuttings, archival photographs and social media to inform her portraits. Demonstrating an acute sensitivity to the psyche of her subjects, Ball emphasises physical characteristics – which the artist refers to as a “mask” – that define how we outwardly portray ourselves to the world. 

Frequently depicting people who celebrate self-expression and contest traditional binary norms, Ball highlights physiognomy, hairstyles, clothes, jewellery and make-up that reveal the idiosyncrasies of her anonymous, often unknowing sitters. Deep, pooling eyes pierce luminescent skin, while textures and patterns on garments are depicted with a strong sense of tactility. Set against flat planes of colour and confined within closely cropped compositions, the artist lends the people within her work a surreal, timeless quality by denying the viewer any form of narrative about their identity.

Sarah Ball was born in Yorkshire, UK in 1965. She currently lives and works in Cornwall, UK. Ball studied at Newport Art College in the early 1980s and completed an MFA at Bath Spa University in 2005. She has exhibited at The Royal Academy of Arts, London; Victoria Miro, London; Somerset House, London; Half Gallery, New York; Victoria & Albert Museum, London and Anima Mundi, St Ives, Cornwall. Her first museum exhibition, ‘Unlikely Likeness’, took place at the Grace Museum in Abilene, Texas in the autumn of 2019. Ball’s works are included in the permanent collections of the Kistefos Museum, Norway; British Museum, London and Rachofsky Collection, Dallas. The artist will have her first solo exhibition with Stephen Friedman Gallery, London in early 2022. 

Portraits. Ben Hunter Gallery, London 6 Oct - 6 Nov, 2020

Sarah Ball

Portraits

Ben Hunter is pleased to present Portraits, a solo presentation of recent paintings by British artist Sarah Ball (b.1965), the inaugural exhibition in the gallery’s new space at 44 Duke Street St James’s. 

Ball draws on a range of found source materials in order to create her meticulously rendered portraits; for this particular suite of works she has gathered imagery collected from social media platforms. Carefully selecting subjects with ambiguous narratives, Ball’s intimate portraits are set starkly against muted backgrounds. Key features are captured with intensity; deep pooling eyes are set against smooth, luminescent skin, while distinctive accessories are set against areas of flatly rendered colour. 

The resulting images — strangers recontextualised from the blank void of social media — challenge us to rethink our increasingly digital lives and encouraging us to revel in the eternal immediacy of painting. 

Sarah Ball studied at Newport Art College in the early 1980s and completed an MFA at Bath Spa University in 2005. She has exhibited widely, including at The Royal Academy, Somerset House and The Victoria and Albert Museum. Ball’s works are included in the permanent collections of the Kistefos Museum, the British Museum and the Rachofsky Collection.