Sandra Stanton

Biography

Sandra Stanton’s early paintings evolved from scenes of people living on the streets of New York in the 1970s. They gradually transformed into heroic figures whose very survival contributed to their mythic stature. By the early 1980s, they had become the classical figures of Greek and Roman mythology living in the ruins of a post-apocalyptic landscape lit by the sunrise. These classical myths inspired a curiosity about their ancient, nature-oriented roots and led to a twenty-year exploration of the sacred feminine in world cultures. Her current work explores the empathic connection between humans and other species in a watery landscape on the brink of devastating climate disruption.

Born in New York City in 1948, Sandra studied at the Art Students League from 1967 to 1974, holds a BA in English from Pace University and an MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art. She had her first solo exhibition at the Clovelly Lane Gallery, NY, in 1975, followed by, among others, shows at the Westbroadway Gallery, NY; Contemporary Arts Gallery at NYU; Lyman Center for the Arts, Southern Connecticut State University; University of Maine at Farmington Art Gallery; Galerie Restigouche, Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada; etc. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including the 2010 Contemporary Realism Biennial. Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana; the National Figurative Drawing & Painting Exhibition, Lore Degenstein Gallery, Susquehanna University, Pennsylvania; Maine Women in the Visual Arts, Colby College Museum of Art, Maine, and many more.

She moved from New York to the woods of Maine in 1989 and continues to enjoy frequent visits by wildlife, including graceful whitetail deer and native and migratory birds, many of whom make their way into her paintings.

Artist Statement

For the last decade, I’ve been exploring the empathic connection between humans and other species sensed in moments of stillness. In these paintings, this nonverbal primal link lies just below the surface of awareness as it flows through psychological and spiritual levels in a watery landscape on the brink of devastating climate disruption, Contemporary models and wildlife unite to look for hope as they warn of catastrophes to come with a shared sense of dread.

Setting everyone in water emphasizes the drastic changes our planet is undergoing. In addition, it focuses attention on the individuality of each model through portraiture,

Another one of my primary concerns is to portray wildlife with as much empathy and dignity as the humans who sit for me. Other species may represent messengers from the spirit world, messengers from the unconscious, or messengers from Nature, seeking to communicate with us. This is a world where arrays of familiar and diverse elements unite in extraordinary circumstances, where an exterior narrative is no more unlikely than its interior counterpart, where other species conduct us to unseen, unfamiliar, or perhaps familiar, realms.