Sara Genn is a Canadian-born visual artist who works between New York and Palm Springs. Mentored by her father, a plein-air landscape painter, Genn grew up visiting the wilds of British Columbia to study the movement of light, eye control, and composition in nature. She holds a BFA from Queen’s University in Ontario and has been painting and exhibiting continuously since 1991.

Genn’s work focuses on the technical, material, and aesthetic nuances of how color is perceived, preferred, and organized. She also references principles of her Japanese maternal heritage through the aesthetic of wabi-sabi: asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularities), simplicity, austerity, and intimacy—all of which strive for a sense of balance, rhythm, and organic counterpoint. This credo acknowledges that objects and experiences are most beautiful when they evoke a feeling of spiritual longing. Her work strives for a certain weightlessness rendered through tactile means—what she calls “the sublime of the handmade.”

Genn’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Architectural Digest, NYLON Japan, American Art Collector, and New York Magazine. Her work resides in private and public collections including New York Presbyterian Hospital, the Palm Springs Art Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, among others.