Buffalo, NY
I used to have a favorite tree. It stood on the front lawn of my family’s bungalow in the suburbs of Montreal, and it was small enough that I could climb up into its branches by myself. I recalled this plant from my past while looking at the paintings and scroll drawings of Sarah Myers, which take individual ginkos, maples, birches, oaks and others as their unique subject. Myers does not depict surrounding forests or landscapes or cities, just trees, on their own, standing tall and proud against blank or monochromatic grounds. Surprisingly, her pictures have no relation to the categories of landscape or nature study. Rather they are portraits that represent trees as another artist might image a person: as stand-alone individuals, complete with idiosyncratic personalities and histories, deserving recognition of their grace and dignity. In Myers they have found it.
—Lori Waxman 11/12/16 3:06 PM