Mr. Spots

Description

Sarah Rakes
United States, born 1955
Mr. Spots
1996
Pastel on paper, in painted frame
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.209
Sarah Rakes, a Georgia artist, started painting at age 31. Specializing in still lifes, Rakes uses strong colors to represent the world around her while abstracting her subjects into flat planes. She also handpaints her frames to emphasize the decorative aspects of her art.
(Out of the Ordinary, 2010)
Sarah Rakes's interest in art started at the young age of eight, when a traveling art show visited her rural town in Arkansas. Rakes had trouble in school and turned to painting as an escape. At the age of twenty she left home and not long after started a family. Due to wanting to focus her attention on her family she stopped painting. After raising her family, Sarah returned to her passion and started painting again in 1986.
Her works exude a concern with growing things and a love for animals in nature. Most of her works combine these two elements. She also uses vibrant and intense colors, which are sometimes extended onto the frames. She is one of a small number of artists who frame and decorate their own works. With the help of her husband who makes the frames, Sarah then paints them, making them a perfect match with the work it holds. Here her theme and subject matter remain constant with other works. A cat lies on the grass surrounded by nature. The decorative frame further accentuates the work.
Denise Patterson
Modern and Contemporary Art Intern
2002