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Sarah Cain
b. 1979

Sarah Cain b. 1979

  • Works
  • Select Exhibitions
  • News & Events
  • Press
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  • Sarah Cain is known for exuberant abstractions that push the conventional boundaries of painting, often moving beyond the canvas into...
    Installation view: Sarah Cain, My favorite season is the fall of the patriarchy, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2021. Photo: Jeff McLane. 

    Sarah Cain is known for exuberant abstractions that push the conventional boundaries of painting, often moving beyond the canvas into installation, site-specific painting, stained glass, and furniture. Grounded in a feminist framework, Cain redefines abstraction as an architecture for transformative, embodied, and emotive experience. Using a brilliant palette and unconventional materials, Cain undermines and expands historic perceptions of “serious” painting, crafting a new language of abstraction rooted in the experiential.

  • "I’m breaking open the boundaries of what painting can be. By using the freedom found in abstraction I strive to create work that both translates the human condition and exists in the present tense."
    —Sarah Cain

  • Recent solo exhibitions include To — you know—you, Berkeley Art Museum, California; Day after day on this beautiful stage, Henry...
    Installation view of Sarah Cain: Now I’m going to tell you everything, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, 2018. Photo: Jeff McLane.

    Recent solo exhibitions include To — you know—you, Berkeley Art Museum, California; Day after day on this beautiful stage, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, Washington; hand in hand, Colby Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; My favorite season is the fall of the patriarchy, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Opener 33: Sarah Cain—Enter the Center, Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York; and In Nature, Momentary of Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, Arkansas. Her work can be found in numerous public collections, including National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX; Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA; Pérez Art Museum, Miami, FL; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA. Cain earned her BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA in 2001 and her MFA from the University of California at Berkeley in 2006.

    Cain was born in 1979 in Albany, New York and lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

     

  • Works
    • sex party, 2025

      sex party, 2025

    • Mother, 2025

      Mother, 2025

    • Night Falling, 2024

      Night Falling, 2024

    • Late Last Night, 2024

      Late Last Night, 2024

    • operation estuary, 2023

      operation estuary, 2023

    • Good Phil, 2023

      Good Phil, 2023

    • On this beautiful stage, 2023

      On this beautiful stage, 2023

    • Music Book, 2008-21

      Music Book, 2008-21

  • Select Exhibitions

    • Sarah Cain: To—you know—you, BAMPFA, Berkeley, California
      Exhibitions

      Sarah Cain: To—you know—you

      BAMPFA, Berkeley, California 30 October 2025 - 6 June 2027 Museum & Public Exhibitions
    • Opener 33: Sarah Cain—Enter the Center, Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York
      Exhibitions

      Opener 33: Sarah Cain—Enter the Center

      Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York 10 July - 19 December 2021 Museum & Public Exhibitions
    • Sarah Cain: My favorite season is the fall of the patriarchy, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
      Exhibitions

      Sarah Cain: My favorite season is the fall of the patriarchy

      National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 18 June - 3 October 2021 Museum & Public Exhibitions
    • Sarah Cain: Mountain Song, Aspen Art Museum at the Elk Camp on Snowmass Mountain, Colorado
      Exhibitions

      Sarah Cain: Mountain Song

      Aspen Art Museum at the Elk Camp on Snowmass Mountain, Colorado 24 November 2017 - 30 September 2018 Museum & Public Exhibitions
    • Sarah Cain: Now I’m going to tell you everything, Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
      Exhibitions

      Sarah Cain: Now I’m going to tell you everything

      Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California 9 September 2017 - 11 March 2018 Museum & Public Exhibitions
    • Sarah Cain: Dark Matter
      Exhibitions

      Sarah Cain: Dark Matter

      8 September - 15 October 2016 Galerie Lelong Exhibitions
    • Sarah Cain: The Imaginary Architecture of Love, Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, North Carolina
      Exhibitions

      Sarah Cain: The Imaginary Architecture of Love

      Contemporary Art Museum Raleigh, North Carolina 2 October 2015 - 3 January 2016 Museum & Public Exhibitions
    • Sarah Cain: Burning Bush
      Exhibitions

      Sarah Cain: Burning Bush

      7 February - 15 March 2014 Galerie Lelong Exhibitions
  • News & Events

    • Sarah Cain Represented by Galerie Lelong, New York
      News

      Sarah Cain Represented by Galerie Lelong, New York

      June 29, 2026
  • Press

    • The New York Times, With Big, Bold Art, Sarah Cain Redefines Seriousness in Painting
      Press

      The New York Times

      With Big, Bold Art, Sarah Cain Redefines Seriousness in Painting September 30, 2021
    • BOMB Magazine, Sarah Cain by Maddie Klett
      Press

      BOMB Magazine

      Sarah Cain by Maddie Klett September 9, 2021
    • Vogue, Sarah Cain Is Ready to Take Up Space
      Press

      Vogue

      Sarah Cain Is Ready to Take Up Space February 22, 2021
    • T Magazine, The Artist Creating a 150-Foot-Long Glass Rainbow
      Press

      T Magazine

      The Artist Creating a 150-Foot-Long Glass Rainbow February 7, 2019
  • Contact Form

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Galerie Lelong, New York

528 West 26th Street

New York, NY 10001

T +1 212 315 0470

art@galerielelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

13, rue de Téhéran

75008 Paris

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

info@galerie-lelong.com

Galerie Lelong, Paris

38, avenue Matignon

75008 Paris

T +33 1 45 63 13 19

info@galerie-lelong.com

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