Sarah Lee\u2019s latest body of dreamy landscape paintings gathers delicate waves, mysterious fissures, and diffused lightning into scenes tinged with magical realism. Most of the works appear in her solo exhibition Deeper at Albertz Benda, where the artist focuses on different ecosystems and the play between clarity and concealment. The presentation continues through October 10 in New York.<\/p>\n
Lee\u2019s apparently \u201cempty\u201d vistas nod to the romantic Western tradition of sweeping seascapes and open expanses associated with a problematic colonialist mindset, including Manifest Destiny. John O\u2019Sullivan, who coined the term, wrote that Americans possessed the fundamental right to \u201cto overspread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us\u2026\u201d Against that backdrop, a gallery statement notes that in Lee\u2019s oil paintings, \u201cthe landscape pushes back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moons cast strangely direct beams of light, and supple mountains are cradled by lakes and forests. In the misty, fuzzy edges of glaciers, glowing skies, and mountain peaks, the artist cultivates a nuanced sense of the uncanny. \u201cThere is a distinct feeling that more is hidden in the scene than what meets the eye: in the recesses of the water, underneath the ice, obscured by an outcropping of coral,\u201d the gallery says. Light might shine a touch too brightly, or a gap might open ominously across a field of ice.<\/p>\n
Lee often titles works by color, as in \u201cEmerald Sky\u201d (2026), oil on canvas, 56 x 52 1\/4 inches, and \u201cRed Meadow in Mist\u201d (2026), oil on canvas, 13 x 13 inches. Across the exhibition, the surfaces and horizons feel serene yet alert to change: \u201cBefore Dark\u201d (2026), oil on canvas, 70 x 80 inches, fixes our gaze on a placid lake while hinting at the calm before a storm. Other paintings span intimate and expansive scales, from \u201cGolden Hour\u201d (2026), oil on canvas, 14 x 15 inches, to \u201cThe Umber Sea\u201d (2026), oil on canvas, 70 x 60 inches. Glacial terrain and shifting waters recur in works like \u201cGlacier\u201d (2024), oil on linen, 52 x 56 inches, and \u201cPath to the Forest\u201d (2026), oil on canvas, 34 x 36 inches, while \u201cBlushing Clouds\u201d (2025), oil on canvas, 52 x 60 inches, suffuses the sky with atmosphere.<\/p>\n
Throughout Deeper, Lee probes how nature both nourishes and ultimately governs. Humans need clean water, food, and fresh air, even as our collective actions harm the environment and, paradoxically, ourselves. Her paintings become a filter for this contradiction, centering land and water\u2014elements we rely on but cannot control.<\/p>\n
Deeper is on view at Albertz Benda through October 10 in New York.<\/p>\n