Sarah Muirhead Scottish, b. 1987

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Biography
A graduate of Edinburgh School of Art, Sarah Muirhead is a technically-accomplished, figurative artist whose practice is rooted in forensic attention to detail. She paints and also makes drawings in a variety of graphic media. Her primary subject is the decorated and adorned human body. In addition, she produces arresting images of apocalyptic, dystopian landscape.

Muirhead's compositions are densely packed and intensely busy. Her subjects are artfully posed, their limbs arranged in angular and sinuous combinations, which suggest a Klimt-like eroticism. The body is pushed close up to the picture plane, cinematically cropped for dramatic effect. The models are, for the most part, heavily tattooed and arrayed with jewellery. This is a court of decorated individuals; initiates inscribed with cryptic signs and symbols, whose painted skins are, in turn, painted. The artist documents a hermetic group who share a complexity of hard-won and esoteric information.


Drawing is an important process and is done at scale and with an obsessive and painstaking need to describe fully that which is seen. Her great skill in this field makes for compelling images which bring her imagined worlds powerfully to life. The 'Disaster' and 'Catastrophe' series, rendered in graphite on paper, realise nightmare visions of ruin and decay that, in turn, reference the 'Babel' paintings of the Renaissance. Muirhead's contemporary take mixes up abandoned cars, destroyed ships, derelict houses and discarded ornaments into a maelstrom of storm and flood.


This young artist has developed an impressive mastery of representational technique, particularly in draughtsmanship. This enables her to make vivid and convincing descriptions of fantastic scenarios and exotic characters. Her pictures are crowded with disparate objects and dramatic juxtapositions. Such a kaleidoscopic variety of material stimulates the eye, which moves restlessly across the surface of these pieces. The mind follows, intrigued and captivated.

Works
  • Foot Painting 4
    Foot Painting 4, 2025
    Acrylic on wood panel
    29.5 x 21 cm
    11.6 x 8.3 in
  • Foot Portrait 1
    Foot Portrait 1, 2025
    Acrylic on wood panel
    41 x 30 cm
    16.1 x 11.8 in
  • Foot Portrait 2
    Foot Portrait 2, 2025
    Acrylic on wood panel
    21 x 29.7 cm
    8.3 x 11.7 in
  • Foot Portrait 3
    Foot Portrait 3, 2025
    Acrylic on wood panel
    21 x 29.7 cm
    8.3 x 11.7 in
  • Gaze Back
    Gaze Back, 2025
    Acrylic on wood panel
    59 x 42 cm
    23.2 x 16.5 in
  • Blur
    Blur, 2023
    Acrylic on board
    41 x 30 cm
    16.1 x 11.8 in
  • Catastrophe
    Catastrophe, 2023
    Framed, graphite on paper
    84 x 59 cm
    33.1 x 23.2 in
  • Catch
    Catch, 2023
    Acrylic on board
    40 x 31 cm
    15.6 x 12 .2 in
  • Chance or Choice
    Chance or Choice, 2023
    Acrylic on canvas
    110 x 90 cm
    43.3 x 35.4 in
  • Closest Demons
    Closest Demons, 2023
    Framed, graphite pencil on paper.
    113 x 84 cm
    44.5 x 33.1 in
  • Disaster Drawing
    Disaster Drawing, 2023
    Framed, graphite on paper
    84 x 59 cm
    33.1 x 23.2 in
  • Leer
    Leer, 2023
    Acrylic on board
    41 x 30 cm
    16.1 x 11.8 in
  • Love Bird
    Love Bird, 2023
    Acrylic on wooden panel
    30 x 21 x 3 cm
    11.8 x 8.3 x 1.2 in
  • Objectify/personify
    Objectify/personify, 2023
    Acrylic on board
    40 x 31 cm
    15.6 x 12.2 in
  • Objectively
    Objectively, 2023
    Acrylic on board
    41 x 30 cm
    16.1 x 11.8 in
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Exhibitions