Sara Anstis: Pastels

Opening Reception: Thursday, September 10, 6-8pm

509 West 27th Street, New York

Olney Gleason is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new pastels on paper by London-based artist Sara Anstis (b. 1991), on view at 509 West 27th Street, New York, from September 10 through October 24, 2026. For Pastels, Anstis expands an allegorical universe informed by the visual languages of mythology, folklore, and art history. Realized at a small scale, the nearly thirty works on view encourage close looking while contrasting with the expanse of the gallery architecture. Anstis works in soft, delicate pastels, retaining an intimate sense of touch that charges her scenes with introspective intensity.

In Pastels, Anstis draws from a deepened engagement with art history. Architecture and interiors assume a more pronounced role, contrasting with Anstis' archetypal landscapes, and her compositional structures recall sources ranging from medieval traditions and the proto-Renaissance period to the Early Netherlandish masters. The recurring motif of the feminine finds a touchstone in Anstis' homage to the German expressionist Paula Modersohn-Becker's Self-Portrait on Sixth Wedding (Anniversary) Day (1906) as themes of motherhood surface across the exhibition – treated with the same tenderness and strangeness that characterize Anstis' broader vision of daily life.

Sara Anstis was born in Stockholm and raised on Salt Spring Island, Canada. She received a BFA in Studio Art and Sociology at Concordia University (Montreal, CA) in 2013 and an MFA in Fine Art from Valand Academy (Gothenburg, SE) in 2016. In 2018, she completed the Drawing Year Postgraduate Programme at the Royal Drawing School (London, UK). Anstis has staged solo exhibitions at Kasmin, New York; Perrotin, Tokyo; Various Small Fires, Los Angeles and Seoul; Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal; Fabian Lang Gallery, Zurich, and elsewhere. She lives and works in London.