2,468, 2007
2,468, 2007
21 × 20 inches




2,504, 2007
2,504, 2007
21 × 20 inches




3,865, 2007
3,865, 2007
26.5 × 25.5 inches




4,137, 2007
4,137, 2007
26.5 × 25.5 inches




5,323, 2007
5,323, 2007
26.5 × 25.5 inches




8,521, 2007
8,521, 2007
48 × 46 inches




8,639, 2007
8,639, 2007
35.5 × 39 inches




10,191, 2007
10,191, 2007
36 × 60 inches




10,397, 2007
10,397, 2007
48 × 46 inches




12,539, 2007
12,539, 2007
60 × 54 inches




 Robert Sagerman: dematerializations / interstices / permutations

New York artist Robert Sagerman opens an exhibition titled dematerializations / interstices / permutations at Brian Gross Fine Art on Thursday, April 5, with a reception for the artist from 5:30-7:30pm.

In his work, Robert Sagerman creates rich, transcendent color fields that activate the eye. He builds a lush surface through thousands of daubs of oil paint built up in many layers. These emphatically material works take on a sculptural quality and make for a unique optical experience with the interaction of the vibrant color palette and the shadows created by the surface texture.

Sagerman likens the activity of making these works to meditation. For the artist, the repetitive process of methodically building up the painting surface over time, and counting every stroke, becomes a transformative discipline. Additionally, the intense experience of color perception that occurs when viewing the finished painting transcends the work as an object. Sagerman is intrigued by this seeming contradiction, as the physicality of the work is nearly impossible to overlook.

The painting titles, such as 12,539, reflect the exact number of marks the artist makes to create each piece. He sees the counting of each stroke for each color as the purest form of the painting activity in which he engages, in that the numbers for him suggest the immaterial essence of the work. As Sagerman has said, "The extent to which such an immaterial reality is objectively real, as against its status as a subjective projection, is one over which I puzzle." Influenced by his studies in medieval Jewish mysticism, he sees the product of his activity as "simultaneously both a self-projection and a conduit."

Born in Bayside, New York in 1966, Robert Sagerman received his MFA in Painting and MA in Art History from the Pratt Institute in 1998, his MA in Religious Studies in 2000 from New York University and is currently working towards his PhD in Jewish Mysticism, Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. Sagerman has participated in numerous exhibitions in New York, Atlanta and Chicago. The San Francisco exhibition continues through May 26, 2007 and is his second at Brian Gross Fine Art.