In regards to parent and child, many agree that the apple does not fall far from the tree. Some commonly known examples are actresses Blythe Danner and daughter Gwenyth Paltrow, as well as musician John Lennon and his son, Sean. In the realm of visual art, the VanDerBeek’s are no exception. Sarah VanDerBeek is the daughter of experimental filmmaker, Stan VanDerBeek, who was part of the New York art movement in the 1960s. Unfortunately, Stan passed away when Sarah was seven years old, which appears to be a key influence in the rest of Sarah’s lifestory.
Today, Sarah is quite experienced with all aspects of the art scene, but her biggest chapter yet is her first solo museum exhibition, “To Think of Time.” Loosely inspired by Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, each of the thirty photographs displayed seem to reflect on America “during a time of social transformation.” The pieces cary from shots of three-dimensional still life “assemblages” built in Sarah’s studio, to details of architecture from her trip to New Orleans, and other miscellaneous works discovered in her childhood home in Baltimore years after. The project also parallels the life of the poet, who constantly “reshaped and expanded on his opus throughout his life,” for Sarah continues to try to perfect each aspect of the exhibition from its start to finish, in hopes of its growth and evolution.
Perhaps her artistic aims echoes the sentiment of her actual life. Considering her father’s death, Ms. VanDerBeek’s photos seem to be muted, contemplating on the various aspects of life. Parents are a defining factor of a child’s development, but with her father’s absence, Sarah seems to achieve her maturity by digging through her past, and her father’s past as well. Although Sarah is now an adult, her work seems to transcend time with a sense of yearning, paralleling to her life. Despite the abstract nature of the photographs, one thing is clear,- Sarah VanDerBeek is closer on her path to self-discovery and is the apple that is close to the tree trunk. “To Think of Time” is presented at the Whitney Museum of American Art from September 17 to December 5.
