Saar Shemesh

An x-ray of a skull-like shape alongside an image of the moon on a cloudy evening

Routine Maintenance

4K two channel video-meditation, two channel audio, 36:00 minutes, 2021

A string of lights against a dark background

Lifeline

Pigmented and cast polyurethane foam, cruising rope, cinder blocks, hardware, 3” x 8” x 25m, 2019

A Craftsman flat rolling cart in a cement block pit with an orange light glowing overhead

Please Hold

Plaster, plaster bandages, fiberglass, dimensional lumber, auto-paint, graphite, acrylic sealant, infra-red lights, extension cord, mechanics creeper, wireless speaker, audio, overall dimensions variable, 2021

Warehouse with red objects on Long chains hanging from the ceiling

5 Things You Can See

Helium containers, bocce balls, aircraft cable, chain, clamps, hardware each bell measures ~ 12” in diameter, the rafters are 37’ tall, overall dimensions variable, 2021. All materials salvaged from a waste recovery and recycling center in Philadelphia

A pineapple-like object sits on the ground in a dark room while a purple object hangs from the ceiling

IT TAKES A MUSCLE (Installation view of THE PIT, SATURN IN THE FOURTH HOUSE, and NERVE IMPULSE)

Mixed media, platinum silicone, thermoplastic, pigment, steel, soda-lime glass, found and manipulated plastic object, silicone tubing, vinyl-coated steel wire, hardware, dimensions variable, 2022

Round object emerging from the ground with holds in it

SPIRAL TIME

Pigmented rubber, recycled foam, plywood, binder, hardware, 96” x 18”, 2026

Collage of a variety of clippings including text, sea creatures, natural landscapes, and more

constellation composition i: impact and pain

Xerox collage on heavyweight paper in aluminum frame, 48” x 32”, 2025

Biography

Saar Shemesh (b. New York) is an artist and educator whose creative practice uses abstraction and material transformation to complicate bodily, spatial, and emotional binary logics through architectural interventions/installations, sculptures, text/image-based studies, and sonic experiments. Their work examines conditions of mutability on micro and macro scales, drawing on visceral references like the glistening of mucosal membranes and the violent beauty of craters, highlighting the way materials, emotions, and states of being resist containment.

Saar recently completed an artist fellowship with the NYPL Picture Collection, working on their long-term project titled “holes, wholes, and other voids,” that weaves together research nodes from the studio such as mold-making terminology, geo- and cosmo-logical phenomena, architecture, bio-political erotics, liberation philosophies, and disability to investigate the inherent subjectivity of holes as metaphysical sites of power.