ALISON SAAR

– ALISON SAAR –

African-American, 1956—

Alison Saar (born 1956, Los Angeles) is an American sculptor, mixed-media, and installation artist whose work centers on African diasporic history, Black female identity, spirituality, and cultural memory. Raised in an artist household—her mother is Betye Saar and her father Richard Saar—she was exposed early to global material culture and the expressive possibilities of found objects. Saar earned a BA in art history and studio art from Scripps College in 1978 and an MFA from the Otis Art Institute in 1981. Early residencies, including at the Studio Museum in Harlem and The Fabric Workshop and Museum, were formative in shaping her interdisciplinary approach, which combines sculpture, printmaking, and installation using materials such as wood, metal, and reclaimed objects.

Over the course of her career, Saar has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally and has been included in major survey exhibitions of contemporary art, including the Whitney Biennial. She has had numerous solo exhibitions at prominent institutions and galleries, as well as large-scale museum surveys that trace the development of her practice across several decades. Her work has also been featured in international exhibitions and biennials, and she has completed several public art commissions, reflecting her ability to engage both museum audiences and public spaces with themes of history, resilience, and collective memory.

Saar’s work is represented in the permanent collections of many leading museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, among others. Her contributions to contemporary art have been recognized with numerous awards, fellowships, and honors, affirming her position as a significant and influential voice in American sculpture and mixed-media practice.