Endless Possibilities: Geometric Abstraction
The UBS Lounge at Art Basel in Basel 2025 features works in the UBS Art Collection by international artists who engage with geometric abstraction.
Sarah Crowner creates her vibrant works by sewing together angular pieces of painted canvas. Her geometric compositions evoke the style of hard-edge paintings of the 1950s and 1960s. However, the visible seams that result from Crowner’s process complicate the pristine surfaces by evoking the tactile qualities of patchwork. With its associations of domestic labor, the act of sewing also confronts the high art seriousness of abstract painting with the unpretentious tradition of craft.
Crowner freely borrows from historical sources —manipulating and reinterpreting the original material. Kurtyna Fragments, 2012, is from a series of works inspired by early twentieth century avant-garde painting, music, theater and poetry. The diptych is based on the design for an abstract theatrical stage curtain created in 1956 by Polish artist Maria Jarema (1908-1958). Crowner uses documentation from the period as a template for her work, but reinvents elements of color and form to make it uniquely her own.