Sarah Ann Weber at Anat Ebgi

In Sarah Ann Weber’s “Strong Blossoming Thing Forever,” florals become a maximalist patina that engulf the artworks. The female figures set into these edge-to-edge tropical motifs are lithe and stoic, like classical sculptures pulled out of art history texts (and some are—one references Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus”). 

Some frolic among the blooms, enjoying their splendor, while in others, like “Long leaved flowers weep,” a darker, more apocalyptic scene unfolds, with the natural environment overtaking its subject, consuming her like a foggy vapor. Similarly, Weber’s renderings flip from densely layered colored pencils and oils to flat and illustrative perennials that almost feel like stickers floating on the surface of her swarming worlds. These works take on Romanticism’s excess, while maintaining nature herself as the protagonist—a poignant acknowledgment of the natural world that can be a life-giving ally or an unrelenting force.

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Photo: Sarah Ann Weber, “Return no more,” 2021. Image courtesy the artist and Anat Ebgi. Photo by Matthew Kroening.