
Sarah Smelser
The World Outside This Room (Kala), 2017

Sarah Smelser is a master of monotype, having developed techniques that offer her a high degree of …

Sarah Smelser is a printmaker known for her abstract monotypes. Her works often allude episodes in Smelser’s own life, as well as both the natural and manmade world, but the references are oblique at best; instead, Smelser says that her work is motivated by a material curiosity and excitement. Her prints characteristically feature simple shapes that are either solid and imposing or thinly hashed and delicate; as Smelser describes, “different types of shapes have fallen into favor at different times in my life.” Throughout much of her career, she employed a strictly limited palette of black, yellow, and red, though she has made more recent exceptions.


Sarah Smelser is a master of monotype, having developed techniques that offer her a high degree of control. This piece is made on a thin kozo paper that is mounted to a white sheet. A border surrounds the image on all sides.

Sarah Smelser is a printmaker known for her abstract monotypes. Her works often allude episodes in Smelser’s own life, as well as both the natural and manmade world, but the references are oblique at best; instead, Smelser says that her work is motivated by a material curiosity and excitement. Her prints characteristically feature simple shapes that are either solid and imposing or thinly hashed and delicate; as Smelser describes, “different types of shapes have fallen into favor at different times in my life.” Throughout much of her career, she employed a strictly limited palette of black, yellow, and red, though she has made more recent exceptions.