Catalogue Text from the Primal Garden “Walter Feldman Fellowship” by Katherine French

 “Flowers are dangerous subjects for painters.  In the wrong hands, they are cloyingly sweet or blatantly sexual.  They recall a kind of feminine delicacy that belies tough-mindedness. They avoid swagger and strut.  We do not expect to be challenged by paintings that reference flowers, but artist Sarah Meyers Brent is quick to set us straight.  In her mysterious gardens of growth and decay, we see evidence of hard intellect.  There is nothing overly pretty about gnarled and twisted roots, or in the ooze of rotting plants.  But Brent transforms decomposing muck into a thing of beauty, convincing us of her ability to make paintings that are sublime.”….

 … “Brent invites viewers to a visionary garden, but then leads us past its deceptive tranquility to explore primal fear, anxiety, and joy—all the basic components of an emotional life that inspires us to look beyond ourselves.”