Sarah McEneaney’s arresting autobiographical narrative paintings rely on a variety of sources for their inspiration: drawings, memories, photographs, and imagination and by the sheer range of perspectives they control tend to read less like memoir and more like creative non-fiction.  She turns this creative documentary lens equally on the mundane activities of daily life–napping, reading, bathing–and the moments of acute horror–surviving an illness and the trauma of violent crime.  An activist–she was directly involved in the efforts to keep the baseball stadium out of Philadelphia’s China Town–her work dwells on individual experience but never loses sight of its resonance with a broader community.

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Sarah McEneaney, born 1955 in Munich, Germany, attended The University of the Arts (formerly Philadelphia College of Art) and The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Primarily a painter, McEneaney lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her autobiographical work has been  exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Philadelphia, New York and throughout the country for more than 25 years.  In 2004, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia presented the first museum survey show of her work. Recent solo exhibitions include Mills College Art Museum, Oakland CA (2008) and The Chinati Foundation, Marfa Texas (2009)  McEneaney’s paintings are in  many public and private collections including The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, Johnson and Johnson and Microsoft Corporation.

McEneaney is currently represented by the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in New York and has had  solo exhibitions there in 2006 and 2008. Additionally in 2008 she had solo shows at the Mills College Art Museum in Oakland CA and Locks Gallery in Philadelphia PA

See McEneaney share and discuss her work at the June 10th Salon at the Laurie Beechman Cabaret (601 S. Broad St.).  She’ll be joined by three other artists producing memoir and documentary work in a variety of media:

Stephanie Yuhas reads from “American Goulash,” a collection of stories about growing up a first-born American daughter to an all-Transylvanian family.  American Goulash

Michael M. Koehler shares PARADE, a photo essay exploring his relationship to Philadelphia, mediated through images of this city’s iconic Mummers.   Michaelmkoehler.com

Nathan Manske will present selections of “true stories by gay people from all over” collected on his website Imfromdriftwood.com

The Salon runs from 7:3opm to 9:30pm.
Admission is $8, seating is limited, and we typically sell out!  Please buy your tickets in advance.