Background
Alison Saar was born on February 5, 1956, in Los Angeles, California, United States. She is a daughter of Richard Saar, an art conservator, and Betye Saar, a sculptor and an artist.
1994
Alison Saar seated next to her sculpture with her mother Betye Saar (standing) in Los Angeles. Photo by Ann Summ.
1999
Alison Saar. Photo by Jack Mitchell.
2000
308 Charles E Young Dr N, Los Angeles, CA 90024, United States
Alison Saar (standing) and curator Mary Nooter Roberts at the Fowler Museum at the University of California, Los Angeles. Photo by Ken Hively.
2006
(From left to right) Lezley, Betye, and Alison Saar at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Photo by Richard Hartog.
2017
250 S Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012, United States
Alison Saar (left) with her mother Betye Saar at MOCA's Leadership Circle and Members' Opening of Kerry James Marshall: Mastry at MOCA Grand Avenue on March 11, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Rachel Murray.
2018
768 5th Ave, New York, NY 10019, United States
Alison Saar (left) with her mother Betye Saar at Skowhegan Awards Dinner 2018 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. Photo by Presley Ann/Patrick McMullan.
2018
768 5th Ave, New York, NY 10019, United States
(Left to right) Alison Saar, Betye Saar, and Spencer Cavanaugh at Skowhegan Awards Dinner 2018 at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. Photo by Presley Ann/Patrick McMullan.
2018
(Left to right) Betye Saar, Thelma Golden, and Alison Saar at the J. Paul Getty Medal Dinner in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Ryan Miller.
1030 N Columbia Ave, Claremont, CA 91711, United States
The Honnold Gateway of Scripps College where Alison Saar received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history and studio art in 1978.
9045 Lincoln Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90045, United States
Otis College of Art and Design where Alison Saar obtained a Master of Arts degree in 1981.
Alison Saar with a chainsaw and a large block of wood in her New York studio in the middle of the 1990s. Photo by Anthony Barboza.
Alison Saar with a chainsaw and a large block of wood in her New York studio in the middle of the 1990s. Photo by Anthony Barboza.
Alison Saar was born on February 5, 1956, in Los Angeles, California, United States. She is a daughter of Richard Saar, an art conservator, and Betye Saar, a sculptor and an artist.
Alison Saar, along with her two sisters, Lezley and Tracye, was exposed to the art world since her early years. A daughter of a famous assemblage artist Betye Saar, she frequently accompanied her mother at different art events, including those related to Outsider Art. All the types of art and all items of folk culture that Saar came across during her childhood and youth had a great impact on her further style as an artist.
While in a high school, Alison Saar assisted her father, an art conservationist, in his workshop. It was there where she enriched her knowledge about various cultures, including Chinese Egyptian, Pre-Columbian and African art, and learned the particularities of the materials used in each of them.
After graduating from high school, Saar pursued her studies at Scripps College where a celebrated art historian, Dr. Samella Lewis, was among her teachers. Saar received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history and studio art in 1978.
It was followed by a Master of Arts degree from Otis College of Art and Design (then Otis Art Institute) three years later.
Alison Saar relocated to New York City in 1983 following her husband who received a job as a digital artist in Chelsea. That same year, Saar became an artist in residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Two years later, she served in the same capacity at the Roswell Museum of Art, New Mexico. Since then, she has been in residence at Washington Project for the Arts, and the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College.
Saar has regularly exhibited nationally and internationally, including the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, L.A. Louver Gallery, Phyllis Kind Gallery in New York City, Ben Maltz Gallery, and Pasadena Museum of California Art, and the Whitney Biennial of 1993.
Saar's art in Venice, California is represented by L.A. Louver Gallery.
Through her sculptures, paintings, and prints, Alison Saar explores the role of the human body that it has played and plays in the history of identity politics. She touches on the problems of racism and gender that are relevant nowadays.
Saar believes in the spirituality of objects and tries to express certain human emotions through the found objects she often uses in her artworks.
Quotations: "The pieces always feel like children to me, in that they have their own personalities and their own needs and desires, and their own abilities."
Alison Saar became a United States Artists fellow in 2012.
Quotes from others about the person
"[Saar] demonstrates deft skill with seemingly unforgiving materials (bronze, lead, tar, wood). [She] juggles themes of personal and cultural identity as she fashions various sizes of female bodies (often her own) that are buoyant with story while solid in stance." Rebecca Epstein, art critic
Alison Saar is married to Tom Leeser, a digital media artist. The family produced two children, Maddy and Kyle.