Sarah Pater is a painter based in Philadelphia. Her work blurs the aesthetics of boredom and attention with office-leisure-domestic design, daily experiences, and painting conventions. Through a diaristic approach that mirrors everyday perceptual experiences, Pater’s practice explores longing, vision, female experience, and time. Her paintings are composites of observed and invented images, echoing the visual experience of life with omnipresent screens that compel simultaneous views and projections. They serve as analogies for contemporary ways of looking and seeing, scaled for private contemplation.
Pater has been included in recent solo and group exhibitions at Yi Gallery (New York); CHART (New York); Pablo's Birthday (New York); Lighthouse Works (Fishers Island, NY); Helen J Gallery (Los Angeles); Peep Projects (Philadelphia); and Taymour Grahne Projects (London). Her work has been featured in New American Paintings and Bat City Review and reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, Two Coats of Paint, Whitehot Magazine, and elsewhere. Pater has been awarded residencies at the Lighthouse Works, the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation, and the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust. She received an M.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design and a B.F.A. from Boston University.
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sarah.r.pater@gmail.com
b. Wilmington, Delaware.
Lives and works in Philadelphia.
Education
2015
Rhode Island School of Design, M.F.A., Painting
2009
Boston University, B.F.A., Painting
Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions
2024
Here, Before and After Me, Xingze Li & Sarah Pater, Yi Gallery – Brooklyn
2022
on the circular track of days, Lighthouse Works – Fishers Island
2020
Everything might spill, Spite Haus – Philadelphia
2017
Anyoffice, University of the Arts – Philadelphia
2015
Nothing / Will Have Taken Place / but the Place, Sarah Pater and Lauren Comito (curated by Hilary Doyle & Reid Hitt), Projekt 722 – Brooklyn
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
New Neighbors, Berman Museum of Art — Collegeville, PA
Still, Then Moving, Blah Blah Gallery — Philadelphia
Inside, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery — Philadelphia
The Anxious or the Serene Still Life (curated by Zeuxis), Ceres Gallery — New York
2023
2022
Books and Things (curated by Cameron Masters), Helen J Gallery – Los Angeles
Light Accumulation (curated by Ali Osborn), Pulp – Holyoke MA
Not Always What They Seem, Peep Projects – Philadelphia
Surface Tension (curated by Lauren Whearty), Ortega y Gasset – Brooklyn
Still Going (curated by 106 Green), Taymour Grahne Projects Notting Hill – London
2021
Spring (organized by Kris Benedict), West Chester University – West Chester PA
Fitting out the outfitters, Accordion Studios – Providence
2019
Unseen (curated by Akili Tommasino), Collar Works – Troy NY
Be. Long., Dutoit Gallery – Dayton OH
THERE IS NO BAND (organized by A.J. Rombach), Distillery Gallery – Boston
2018
Double Meeting, Orgy Park – Brooklyn
A Few Conversations Between Women, Boston University – Boston
Made in Paint, Sam & Adele Golden Gallery – New Berlin NY
2016
106 Green Presents, Brennan & Griffin – New York
A Body Has No Center, Tiger Strikes Asteroid – Philadelphia
Brick Moon, FJORD – Philadelphia
Dirty Particles (curated by Ni Hao), 18th Street Arts Center – Santa Monica
2015
Sub-Scheme, Western Exhibitions – Chicago
RISD MFA Painting (essay), Kathryn Markel Fine Arts – New York
Fever Dream, RISD Museum – Providence
RISD Graduate Thesis Show, Convention Center – Providence
2014
UFO Hunters, Sol Koffler Gallery – Providence
Not Tight, Memorial Hall Gallery – Providence
The Rainbow Room, 111 Front Street – Brooklyn
New Talent, New York Design Center – New York
2013
Pool Rules, Sarah Pater, Natessa Amin, & Sean Gerstley, FJORD – Philadelphia
2012
In Celebration of the Barnes, CSA Gallery – Philadelphia
Considering the Provisional, FJORD – Philadelphia
2022
Books and Things (curated by Cameron Masters), Helen J Gallery – Los Angeles
Light Accumulation (curated by Ali Osborn), Pulp – Holyoke MA
Not Always What They Seem, Peep Projects – Philadelphia
Surface Tension (curated by Lauren Whearty), Ortega y Gasset – Brooklyn
Still Going (curated by 106 Green), Taymour Grahne Projects Notting Hill – London
2021
Spring (organized by Kris Benedict), West Chester University – West Chester PA
Fitting out the outfitters, Accordion Studios – Providence
2019
Unseen (curated by Akili Tommasino), Collar Works – Troy NY
Be. Long., Dutoit Gallery – Dayton OH
THERE IS NO BAND (organized by A.J. Rombach), Distillery Gallery – Boston
2018
Double Meeting, Orgy Park – Brooklyn
A Few Conversations Between Women, Boston University – Boston
Made in Paint, Sam & Adele Golden Gallery – New Berlin NY
2016
106 Green Presents, Brennan & Griffin – New York
A Body Has No Center, Tiger Strikes Asteroid – Philadelphia
Brick Moon, FJORD – Philadelphia
Dirty Particles (curated by Ni Hao), 18th Street Arts Center – Santa Monica
2015
Sub-Scheme, Western Exhibitions – Chicago
RISD MFA Painting (essay), Kathryn Markel Fine Arts – New York
Fever Dream, RISD Museum – Providence
RISD Graduate Thesis Show, Convention Center – Providence
2014
UFO Hunters, Sol Koffler Gallery – Providence
Not Tight, Memorial Hall Gallery – Providence
The Rainbow Room, 111 Front Street – Brooklyn
New Talent, New York Design Center – New York
2013
Pool Rules, Sarah Pater, Natessa Amin, & Sean Gerstley, FJORD – Philadelphia
2012
In Celebration of the Barnes, CSA Gallery – Philadelphia
Considering the Provisional, FJORD – Philadelphia
Bibliography
2024
Whitehot Magazine: On the Mundane: Here, Before and After Me at Yi Gallery
Two Coats of Paint: Xingze Li and Sarah Pater: Extraordinarily quotidian
2023
2022
Bat City Review, University of Texas at Austin, Issue 18
2019
2015
Hyperallergic: Highlights from the RISD MFA Painting Exhibition in Chelsea
2013
The Nicola Midnight St. Claire: Form Review - Pool Rules at FJORD
2024
Whitehot Magazine: On the Mundane: Here, Before and After Me at Yi Gallery
Two Coats of Paint: Xingze Li and Sarah Pater: Extraordinarily quotidian
2023
2022
Bat City Review, University of Texas at Austin, Issue 18
2019
2015
Hyperallergic: Highlights from the RISD MFA Painting Exhibition in Chelsea
2013
The Nicola Midnight St. Claire: Form Review - Pool Rules at FJORD
Residencies
2021
The Lighthouse Works Fellowship, Fishers Island, NY
Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, Granville, NY
2020/21
Soaring Gardens Residency, Ora Lerman Charitable Trust, Laceyville, PA
2018
Lacawac Sanctuary & Biological Field Station Artist Residency, Lake Ariel, PA
2017
The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts Residency, New Berlin, NY
Curatorial Projects
2021
The Lighthouse Works Fellowship, Fishers Island, NY
Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, Granville, NY
Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency, Granville, NY
2020/21
Soaring Gardens Residency, Ora Lerman Charitable Trust, Laceyville, PA
2018
Lacawac Sanctuary & Biological Field Station Artist Residency, Lake Ariel, PA
2017
The Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts Residency, New Berlin, NY