The body of the missing artist Sarah Cunningham has been found on the tracks near Chalk Farm station in Camden, London. It had been reported earlier that she was last seen getting into a car with two other passengers. The body has has now been formally identified, police added, saying the death was being treated as unexpected but was not currently thought to be suspicious.
Her gallery released the following statement: “We are devastated to confirm the death of Sarah Cunningham. Sarah was an incredibly talented, intelligent and original artist who we all called a friend. Her paintings are authentic, intuitive and pure with the raw power to immediately foster connections with others – qualities reflected in Sarah’s own indomitable character.”
Our thoughts and prayers are with Sarah’s family, friends and loved ones. We ask that everyone respect their privacy and allow them to mourn and celebrate her life, which she left behind far too soon.
A prophetic poem by Lucille Clifton posted on Sarah’s Royal College webpage:
“I made it up here on this bridge between starshine and clay
My one hand holding tight, my other hand; come celebrate with me That everyday something has tried to kill me
And has failed.” – Lucille Clifton
Lisson Gallery in London – which has exhibited Ms Cunningham’s art – had published a public appeal to encourage people to look out for Ms Cunningham.
The gallery writes of her work: Sarah Cunningham seeks out the essential and the alive through her imaginary wildernesses and fluid forestscapes. She constructs kaleidoscopic environments and imagined forest clearings from multiple layers of radiating bursts of light, line and colour. Cunningham builds up complex spatial structures through gestural marks, in a process of continual obliteration and overpainting, until hidden worlds and pastures appear.
Part abstract experimentation, part spiritual journey, every painting at some level represents the intuitive and unspoken connection between nature and humankind, with the artist acting as a conduit for our continuing coexistence and paying homage to the ancient practices dedicated to this mutual understanding. The resulting works exist forever in the act of making and becoming, as if in constant flux, with the canopied compositions seemingly being pulled or carved from each canvas in front of the viewer. Cunningham draws from a multitude of literary, art historical and personal references, adopting and dissolving these situations through vivid, expressionistic mark making. An improvisatory approach to materials also influences every expressionistic sweep and crystalline composition she makes, whether using cloth to drag and remove paint or by adding branches and other wooden extensions to brushes as a means to extend or alter her arm’s length. Her unusual, nocturnal practice of working through the night further estranges her limbs and thoughts from any systematic, painterly movements, resulting in works that briefly dwell in darkness only to culminate in the arrival of the dawn chorus.
Cunningham was born in Nottingham in 1993 and lives and works in London. She received an MA in Painting from Royal College of Art in 2022. Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions in Aspen, Berlin, Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver at Almine Rech, Max Hetzler and the CICA Vancouver among others. She is the recipient of the Ali H. Alkazzi Scholarship Award (2019) and the Djanogly Art Award (2019).