Sagerman, Robert – Galerie Renate Bender

Robert Sagerman Ph. D.

Detail "25,638" - 2009, Öl auf Leinwand, 91,5 x 152 cm

"25,638" - 2009, Öl auf Leinwand, 91,5 x 152 cm

Detail "25,638" - 2009, Öl auf Leinwand, 91,5 x 152 cm. Foto: Michael Gaertner

“1,104” - 2021, Silikon auf Papier, 15 x 15 cm (in Rahmen: 30,5 x 30, 5 cm)

“1,180” - 2021, Silikon auf Papier, 15 x 15 cm (in Rahmen: 30,5 x 30, 5 cm)

“3,826” - 2021, Silikon auf Leinwand, 30,5 x 30,5 cm

“12,969” - 2021, Öl auf Leinwand, 99 x 89 cm

“19,728” - 2021, Öl auf Leinwand, 99 x 89 cm

“1,705” - 2015, Öl auf Leinwand, 30 x 30 cm

"6,428" - 2010, Öl auf Leinwand, 67 x 65 cm

“13,629” - 2006, Öl auf Leinwand, 104 x 180 cm

Detail "25,638" - 2009, oil on canvas, 91,5 x 152 cm

"25,638" - 2009, oil on canvas, 91,5 x 152 cm

Detail "25,638" - 2009, oil on canvas, 91,5 x 152 cm. photo: Michael Gaertner

“1,104” - 2021, silicone on paper, 15 x 15 cm (in frame: 30,5 x 30, 5 cm)

“1,180” - 2021, silicone on paper, 15 x 15 cm (in frame: 30,5 x 30, 5 cm)

“3,826” - 2021, silicone on canvas, 30,5 x 30,5 cm

"12,969" - 2021, oil on canvas, 99 x 89 cm

"19,728" - 2021, oil on canvas, 99 x 89 cm

"5,323" - 2019, oil on canvas, 66 x 64 cm

“1,705” - 2015, oil on canvas, 30 x 30 cm

"6,428" - 2010, oil on canvas, 67 x 65 cm

"12,041" - 2010, oil on canvas, 67 x 65 cm

“13,629” - 2006, oil on canvas, 104 x 180 cm

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Robert Sagerman Ph. D. was born in 1966 in Bayside, NJ, USA. He works in New Jersey, USA.

With his “color bodies” Sagerman has created a highly personal approach to color field painting. Upon close inspection of the work, the viewer discovers that the colored applications of pure oil paint, created from their raw material by the artist himself, are a layering of thousands of “marks” – meticulously applied with a palette knife to the canvas. The viewer is invited to lose themselves in the work's depths. Although similar approaches to painting are alluded to in Sagerman’s work, the artist has actually taken on a completely different task that is more conceptual in nature. Sagerman's contemplative practice includes counting and documenting each oil dab and the total number then appears in the title, e.g. ’19,739’.

In the artist’s most recent group of works, a marked shift in Sagerman’s paint application is immediately apparent. One can trace this change back to Sagerman’s preparatory work toward his doctoral thesis in Jewish mysticism. In Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Sagerman detected an intentional correspondence between the themes present in the nine central scenes and the Jewish mystical sequence of divine echelons, or “sefirot”. In particular, the significations and composition of the “Separation of Light from Darkness” has continued to enthrall him. And it is the “movement” in this composition that now characterizes Sagerman’s oeuvre.