Sarah Bastress: Mutual Admiration Society

January 22nd — March 12th, 2022

RUSCHMAN
4148 N. Elston Ave., Chicago, IL 60618

RUSCHMAN is incredibly pleased to be starting off 2022 with an exhibition of new paintings and works on paper by Chicago based artist, Sarah Bastress. The title for the exhibition (and the large, multipart drawing on view) is gleaned from a club that the author Dorothy Sayers formed during her time at Oxford in the early 20th century; a rag tag group of polymath women supporting one another in their writing, academic endeavors, and personal lives. In Bastress' compositions, groups of figures engage in similar, if surreal, forms of admiration and support. Through tenderness, humor, and the occasional pulse visceral violence, the womxn, "doppelbangers," and "dykealikes" within these works explore new forms of self love and communal care.

Sarah Bastress is a painter from West Virginia, living and working in Chicago. Her paintings and drawings have recently been exhibited in “The Long Dream” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; “The Storytellers” at Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago; “Sticky Thoughts” at Julius Caesar, Chicago; Boundary, Chicago; and “Artists Run Chicago 2.0” at Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago. Bastress received her BA in Government from Smith College, Northampton, and her Post Baccalaureate and MFA degrees from the School of the Art Institute, Chicago. This is the gallery’s first solo exhibition of Bastress’ work.

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, Installation View

Sarah Bastress, Butts and Flowers!, 2021, Oil on canvas, 36h x 48w in.

Sarah Bastress, Butts and Flowers!, 2021, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, Installation View

Sarah Bastress, You Know What You Have To Do (Raincloud), 2019, Oil on canvas, 16h x 20w in.

Sarah Bastress, You Know What You Have To Do (Raincloud), 2019, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Four Lesbians Navigate a Pandemic (after a photo of Hans Baldung Grien's The Knight, the Young Girl, and Death), 2022, Oil on canvas, 60h x 60w in.

Sarah Bastress, Four Lesbians Navigate a Pandemic (after a photo of Hans Baldung Grien's The Knight, the Young Girl, and Death), 2022, Angled View

Sarah Bastress, Four Lesbians Navigate a Pandemic (after a photo of Hans Baldung Grien's The Knight, the Young Girl, and Death), 2022, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, Installation View

Sarah Bastress, Sally Ride, 2021, Oil on canvas, 24h x 36w in.

Sarah Bastress, Sally Ride, 2021, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, 2022, Charcoal, pencil, Sarah Motti's lipstick, spit on paper, 60h x 90w in.

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, 2022, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, Installation View

Sarah Bastress, Too Easy, 2021, Oil on canvas, 20h x 20w in.

Sarah Bastress, Too Easy, 2021, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Aubade for Denim Doppelbangers, 2020, Oil on canvas, 16h x 20w in.

Sarah Bastress, Aubade for Denim Doppelbangers, 2020, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, Installation View

Sarah Bastress, Having a Boston Marriage with You (for Farrell, Cindy, Jeanie, Ethan, Bailey, Julia, Miri, and Ruth), 2022, Oil on canvas, 42h x 56w in.

Sarah Bastress, Having a Boston Marriage with You (for Farrell, Cindy, Jeanie, Ethan, Bailey, Julia, Miri, and Ruth), 2022, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, We Ride All Night, 2020, Oil on canvas, 18h x 18w in.

Sarah Bastress, We Ride All Night, 2020, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, Installation View

Sarah Bastress, Self Portrait Based Off a Photograph My Parents Lost (sorry Joyce), 2020, Oil on canvas, 30h x 30w in.

Sarah Bastress, Self Portrait Based Off a Photograph My Parents Lost (sorry Joyce), 2020, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Mutual Admiration Society, Installation View

Sarah Bastress, Hey Pitcher, What's the Matter?, 2020, Oil on canvas, 56h x 40w in.

Sarah Bastress, Hey Pitcher, What's the Matter?, 2020, Detail View

Sarah Bastress, Next Season (Go Phillies, for Cindy), 2022, Oil on canvas, 24h x 30w in.

Sarah Bastress, Next Season (Go Phillies, for Cindy), 2022, Detail View