# Sara Berman URL: https://vielmetter.com/artists/sara-berman/ Represented by Vielmetter Los Angeles Sara Berman examines the societal constructs of the female experience and radicalizes the historically female domain of portraiture by depicting a harlequin figure as a sorceress or trickster. As a former fashion designer, Berman engages the materiality of the canvas in painterly evocations of textiles, patterns, and interiors that highlight the female body. In these loose representations of self-portraits, Berman reclaims a female gaze and feminine power. Her figures reside in a space of confident self-reflection, highlighted by muted tones and delicate washes of color rendered with a fluidity of line. She works layers of paint onto the surface—scraping and wiping—and in the process suggests the distortions from which the audience views the female body. Berman’s work eloquently suggests a transgressive beauty by the combination of defiant figures with a gorgeous materiality. **Sara Berman** was born in 1975 in the UK and lives and works in London. She studied fashion (BA) at Central Saint Martins in the 1990s and worked in fashion before studying for her MFA at Slade UCL in 2016. Important solo exhibitions include *Circus,* Mimmo Scognamiglio, Milan, Italy (2026); *Where Muses Dare,*Larsen Warner, Stockholm Sweden (2025); *Lapdogs and Fools,*Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (2024); *No Visible Means of Support,*Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Palm Beach, FL (2023); *Home is where the art is,*The Kunsthal Museu, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2022); *Between Community and Commerce*, Site specific installation ZAZ10TS Time Square, New York City, NY (2018); *Matter Out Of Place*, 93 Baker St. London, UK Frieze (2018); and *Big Cactus Little Cactus*, Galerie Huit, Hong Kong (2017) and many others. Berman has been featured in group exhibitions such as *Folds,*Alon Segev, Tel-Aviv, Israel (2025); *Playing the Fool,*The Arts Club, London, UK (2025); *Drawing Biennial,*the Drawing Room, London, UK (2024); *Perpetual Portrait,*Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (2023); *Home is where the Art is*, Kunsthal Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2022); *Like there is hope and I can dream of another world*, Hospital Rooms in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth, Hauser & Wirth, London, UK (2022); *Summer Exhibition 2021*, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (2021) among others. Berman’s work can be found in the collection of The House of KOKO, London, UK; The Poort Visser collection, Netherlands; The Maison Estelle, London, UK; The RO2 Art Collection and the Montparnasse Collection, Canada. ## Exhibitions - [Sara Berman: Lapdogs and Fools](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/sara-berman-2024.md): November 23, 2024 — January 25, 2025 · Gallery III · Artists: Sara Berman - [Perpetual Portrait](https://vielmetter.com/exhibitions/perpetual-portrait.md): July 8 — August 18, 2023 · Gallery I & II & III & IV · Artists: Laura Aguilar, Sadie Benning, Ellen Berkenblit, Sara Berman, Kwesi Botchway, Andrea Bowers, Kim Dingle, Nicole Eisenman, Esther Pearl Watson, Genevieve Gaignard, Karl Haendel, Lavaughan Jenkins, Raffi Kalenderian, The Estate of Pope.L, Robert Pruitt, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Amy Sillman, John Sonsini, Nicola Tyson, Hannah van Bart, Monique van Genderen ## Biography 1975 Born in London, UK Lives and works in London, UK 1995-1999 Saint Martins School of Art and Design, London, UK 2014-2016 MFA Slade School of Art, London, UK **Selected Solo Exhibitions** 2027 Solo, Patricia Low Contemporary, Venice, Italy (forthcoming) 2026 "Entanglements: Sara Berman on Billy Budd," Art & Collections at Glyndebourne, Sussex, UK "Circus," Mimmo Scognamiglio, Milan, Italy 2025 "Where Muses Dare," Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden 2024 "Lapdogs and Fools," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2023 "No Visible Means of Support," Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Palm Beach, FL 2021 "Taking Space," Kristin Hjellegerde, London, UK "Inside / Outside," Janet Rady Gallery, London, UK 2020 "Scene Unscene," Gallery 46, London, UK (Two Person) 2018 "Solitaire," Sapar Contemporary NYC, New York, NY (Two Person) "Matter Out Of Place," curated by VO Curations and supported by Outset, 93 Baker St London, UK "Between Community and Commerce," curated by Tamar Dresdner, ZAZ10TS 10 Times Square, New York, NY "Double Ententre," Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA 2017 "Big Cactus Little Cactus," Galerie Huit Hong Kong, Hong Kong **Selected Group Exhibitions** 2026 "Before Between Seeing," Temporary Dwellings, London, UK "Picture of Me," The Stahl Collection Konsthall, Sweden "The Many Within Her II," Gillian Johnson Gallery, London, UK 2025-2026 "Small is Beautiful," Flowers Gallery, London, UK 2025 "Folds," Alon Segev, Tel-Aviv, Israel "Playing the Fool," The Arts Club, London, UK "Anomie," Cedric Bradawil, London, UK "Nocturnes," Lyndsey Ingram, London, UK 2024 “Fabric of Life," The Paul Smith Space, London, UK "Checkmate," Mimmo Scognamiglio, Milan, Italy "Drawing Biennial," Drawing Room, London, UK "Small is Beautiful," Flowers Gallery, London, UK "The Witch Burns," Tin Man Art Gallery, London, UK "The Body Electric," Larsen Warner, Stockholm, Sweden 2023 "Where the Wild Roses Grow," Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK "Perpetual Portrait," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2022 “Home is where the art is”, The Kunsthal Museum, Rotterdam, Netherlands "Armoured," Dual-show with Luella Bartley, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK "Like there is hope and I can dream of another world," Hospital Rooms in collaboration with Hauser & Wirth, Hauser & Wirth, London, UK 2021 "Facing the Sun," Schloss Goerne, Germany 2020 "Isolated Observations," Candida Stevens Gallery, Sussex, UK "We Could Apply Our Lipstick," C&C Gallery, London, UK "Supastore," NIDA Art Colony, Lithuania Cure3 Exhibition, Bonhams, London, UK 2019 Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, UK Hauser & Wirth Hospital Rooms Fundraising Auction, London, UK "Think In Pictures with Amelchenko," Curated by John Newsom Orchard Street, New York, NY 2017 "Dark Wood," Transition Gallery, London, UK Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK "Young Gods," Charlie Smith Gallery, London, UK 2016 "Topophobophilia," Gallery 46, London, UK "Names," Transition Gallery, London, UK 2015 "Imagine," Londonewcastle Project Space, London, UK "Symposium for Drawing," BAK Museum, Utrecht, The Netherlands "BP Portrait Prize," National Portrait Gallery, London, UK **Bibliography** 2024 Rattenbury, Jack. "A Whimsical Art Exhibit On Witchcraft Will Transform This Charming London Chapel," Secret London, June 6 Sporn, Stephanie. "Eight contemporary artists explain how fashion shaped their practices," ArtBasel, June 3 2023 Asome, Carolyn. "Five designers who traded fashion for art careers," Financial Times, October 15 ([Link](https://www.ft.com/content/50a94b1e-9b41-4f7c-8dde-c7946b4d03de)) Sorensen, Marlene. "The Art List," Harper's Bazaar, September 13 Artnes News Staff. "13 Artists Poised to Break Out Big in 2023, According to Naomi Beckwith, Marilyn Minter, and Other Art-World Insiders," artnet, January 2 2022 Conti, Samantha. "Luella Bartley Is Back, With Sculptures, Drawings of Complex Bodies," WWD, October 13 Dozier, Ayanna. "The 10 Best Booths at The Armory Show 2022," Artsy, September 9 Jana, Rosalind. "The exhibition examining the power of undressing," i-D, September 6 2017 FAD Magazine Staff. "Marcelle Joseph Interviews Recent Slade Graduate And Former Fashion Designer, Sara Berman," FAD Magazine, January 19 **Public Collections** The House of KOKO, London, UK Montparnasse Collection, Canada Poort Vissner Collection, The Netherlands RO2 Art Collection