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Sadie Barnette
Sadie Barnette
Sadie Barnette will continue investigations of form and sociality through architectural sculpture. Minimalist in design, but maximal in activation possibilities, the familiar structures of benches, staircases, tables, are rendered as 3D text formations. Things become words become an invitation, a compass, a stage, a place.
Installation, Public Art, Sculpture, Visual Arts
2026
About Sadie Barnette
Oakland, CA
I was born and raised in Oakland California, where I am lucky to live and work today. This city is gritty, outspoken, stylish… it is loud bass, giant redwoods, remembered histories and secret codes. I dropped out of high school, fell in love with photography, finished high school and went to CalArts for undergraduate studies. There I was initiated into the multi-dimensional ways that conceptual art can be used to communicate when all other forms seemed to fail me. I went on to complete an MFA at UC San Diego. In 2014 I was an artist-in-residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem. For the last decade, I have developed a visual language that uses text, drawing, abstraction and installation to create a modular structure for marking time, attending to archives and family histories, and processing sensory information. I have received invaluable support from foundations such as Artadia, Art Matters, Fleishhacker Foundation, Skowhegan, and the Headlands Center for the Arts, and was an Artist Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Black Studies Collaboratory. I have enjoyed solo exhibitions at venues such as The Kitchen (New York City), ICA Los Angeles, SFMoMA, and Walker Art Center. I am currently developing a permanent, site-specific installation for the new entrance of the Los Angeles International Airport.
I was born and raised in Oakland California, where I am lucky to live and work today. This city is gritty, outspoken, stylish… it is loud bass, giant redwoods, remembered histories and secret codes. I dropped out of high school, fell in love with photography, finished high school and went to CalArts for undergraduate studies. There I was initiated into the multi-dimensional ways that conceptual art can be used to communicate when all other forms seemed to fail me. I went on to complete an MFA at UC San Diego. In 2014 I was an artist-in-residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem. For the last decade, I have developed a visual language that uses text, drawing, abstraction and installation to create a modular structure for marking time, attending to archives and family histories, and processing sensory information. I have received invaluable support from foundations such as Artadia, Art Matters, Fleishhacker Foundation, Skowhegan, and the Headlands Center for the Arts, and was an Artist Fellow at UC Berkeley’s Black Studies Collaboratory. I have enjoyed solo exhibitions at venues such as The Kitchen (New York City), ICA Los Angeles, SFMoMA, and Walker Art Center. I am currently developing a permanent, site-specific installation for the new entrance of the Los Angeles International Airport.