Press
Featured on Beautiful/Decay Magazine Blog
Posted by Brittany Zagoria:
"Hailing from the Edinburgh College of Art, Sarah Muirhead’s portraits of eccentric strangers conjure an immediate feeling of intimacy. With poignant insight towards her subjects, she offers a sympathetic narrative of their lives by meshing together scraps of the subject’s environment and superficial appearance; these carefully selected details are window dressing compared to the clarity of soul that is depicted. A beer bottle, patch of leopard fabric, facial wrinkles around the eyes, brick with graffiti, a strip of red fence, bodies covered with tattoos – each have their place within the individual’s story. The subject’s gaze is often to the side and aloof; however, this does not prevent the viewer from being captivated. Beautifully painted in acrylic on canvas and board, Sarah’s paintings are compelling representations of passersby easily forgotten in everyday life. "
'The Edinburgh-based figurative artist Sarah Muirhead's work is inspired by strangers encountered in public spaces, delicately and attentively realised.'
'Sarah Muirhead – Human Zoo
Posted by Dylan in Rambling
Cornelius It’s probably about time we steered away from the low arts here on Toad and introduced a little high culture into the mélange, isn’t it?
Luckily, such respite can be provided in a timely fashion by Edinburgh College of Art graduate Sarah Muirhead.
Sarah is a stalwart supporter of the Edinburgh music scene, as a fan, a close friend to many of the bands and – crucially – as a hardworking bartender in some of the key local venues.
In addition to this, she’s also a wildly talented painter. Her work, generally portraits of strangers she describes as meeting in a “search for interesting characters on the street and in bars”, is simply breathtaking.
You can see what I mean online if you click the link on her name above and have a browse about her site. However, the reason I’m popping a post up now is that you can also see what I mean for real if you head along to the Urban Outfitters store on Princes Street over the coming month, where her exhibition Human Zoo will be on display.'
Showcase
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/gallery/65-the-skinny-showcase46-sarah-muirhead
Kirsty Wark
Journalist and Television presenter
RISING STAR: Sarah Muirhead:
"I first discovered Sarah Muirhead’s work through a very old friend Lesley Lockhart who runs the Arran Art Gallery in Whiting Bay on the Island of Arran. Lesley has very good antennae and had picked out Sarah Muirhead as a rising star (in turn Lesley’s friend Susan Malcolm the artist and former Head of Art at Wellington School in Ayr had taught Sarah.) Sarah Muirhead only graduated this year from Edinburgh School of Art but the wonderful humanity in her work is incredibly mature. She is a figurative artist who concentrates on every line and crease and blemish and displays an empathy with her subject. I particularly like her portrait of an elderly man in a raffish black suit sitting on a wall reading a newspaper intently – he at once looks charming and clever and friendly and reminds me in character of the late Norman McCaig. If I was to liken her work to another I would say Velasquez’s ‘Old Woman Cooking Eggs’ which is one of my favourite paintings."
'Gordon Kennedy and the Portrait' Half hour programme with interviews and footage of previous work along with the commissioned piece. Available to watch on iplayer.
"Sarah Muirhead paints rather good portraits of people she has met casually and documents something of their lives. She has just been selected to show in Selfridges in Oxford Street."
Duncan McMillan The Scotsman 16/6/2009
Posted by Brittany Zagoria:
"Hailing from the Edinburgh College of Art, Sarah Muirhead’s portraits of eccentric strangers conjure an immediate feeling of intimacy. With poignant insight towards her subjects, she offers a sympathetic narrative of their lives by meshing together scraps of the subject’s environment and superficial appearance; these carefully selected details are window dressing compared to the clarity of soul that is depicted. A beer bottle, patch of leopard fabric, facial wrinkles around the eyes, brick with graffiti, a strip of red fence, bodies covered with tattoos – each have their place within the individual’s story. The subject’s gaze is often to the side and aloof; however, this does not prevent the viewer from being captivated. Beautifully painted in acrylic on canvas and board, Sarah’s paintings are compelling representations of passersby easily forgotten in everyday life. "
'The Edinburgh-based figurative artist Sarah Muirhead's work is inspired by strangers encountered in public spaces, delicately and attentively realised.'
'Sarah Muirhead – Human Zoo
Posted by Dylan in Rambling
Cornelius It’s probably about time we steered away from the low arts here on Toad and introduced a little high culture into the mélange, isn’t it?
Luckily, such respite can be provided in a timely fashion by Edinburgh College of Art graduate Sarah Muirhead.
Sarah is a stalwart supporter of the Edinburgh music scene, as a fan, a close friend to many of the bands and – crucially – as a hardworking bartender in some of the key local venues.
In addition to this, she’s also a wildly talented painter. Her work, generally portraits of strangers she describes as meeting in a “search for interesting characters on the street and in bars”, is simply breathtaking.
You can see what I mean online if you click the link on her name above and have a browse about her site. However, the reason I’m popping a post up now is that you can also see what I mean for real if you head along to the Urban Outfitters store on Princes Street over the coming month, where her exhibition Human Zoo will be on display.'
Showcase
http://www.theskinny.co.uk/gallery/65-the-skinny-showcase46-sarah-muirhead
Kirsty Wark
Journalist and Television presenter
RISING STAR: Sarah Muirhead:
"I first discovered Sarah Muirhead’s work through a very old friend Lesley Lockhart who runs the Arran Art Gallery in Whiting Bay on the Island of Arran. Lesley has very good antennae and had picked out Sarah Muirhead as a rising star (in turn Lesley’s friend Susan Malcolm the artist and former Head of Art at Wellington School in Ayr had taught Sarah.) Sarah Muirhead only graduated this year from Edinburgh School of Art but the wonderful humanity in her work is incredibly mature. She is a figurative artist who concentrates on every line and crease and blemish and displays an empathy with her subject. I particularly like her portrait of an elderly man in a raffish black suit sitting on a wall reading a newspaper intently – he at once looks charming and clever and friendly and reminds me in character of the late Norman McCaig. If I was to liken her work to another I would say Velasquez’s ‘Old Woman Cooking Eggs’ which is one of my favourite paintings."
'Gordon Kennedy and the Portrait' Half hour programme with interviews and footage of previous work along with the commissioned piece. Available to watch on iplayer.
"Sarah Muirhead paints rather good portraits of people she has met casually and documents something of their lives. She has just been selected to show in Selfridges in Oxford Street."
Duncan McMillan The Scotsman 16/6/2009