ARTIST BIO:

 

Robert Sagerman (b. 1966, Bayside, NY) is a contemporary abstract painter whose practice merges painting, sculpture, and Jewish mysticism. Rooted in process, repetition, and the meditative act of mark-making, Sagerman approaches painting as a sustained exercise in concentration, devotion, and accumulation. Rather than relying on expressive gestures or fixed compositions, he builds each work through thousands of individually counted marks, allowing the image to gradually emerge through small decisions and subtle shifts in color, texture, and density.

Sagerman applies paint directly onto the canvas or paper using a palette knife in dense, repeated dabs. Through this ritualistic process, he constructs highly textured, sculptural surfaces that oscillate between painting and relief, material presence and optical vibration. The resulting works often resist traditional notions of composition or authorship, instead operating as expansive fields of color, rhythm, and spatial immersion.

Central to Sagerman’s practice is the act of counting. Every mark applied to the surface is counted and recorded by the artist—often numbering in the tens of thousands—with the final number typically becoming the work’s title. For Sagerman, counting functions both as a method of concentration and as a means of shifting attention away from the materiality of paint toward something immaterial and contemplative. This repetitive structure draws from his longstanding engagement with Jewish mysticism, particularly the writings and combinatory systems of medieval mystic Abraham Abulafia, whose meditative use of numbers and Hebrew letters deeply informs Sagerman’s thinking.

Despite the dense physicality of the paintings — layered pigments, luminous color, and heavily worked surfaces — the works ultimately move toward a sense of dissolution, quietness, and contemplative immersion. Balancing sensual materiality with spiritual abstraction, Sagerman’s paintings invite a slow, durational encounter shaped by reflection, perception, and time.

Sagerman holds a B.A. and M.A. from the Jewish Theological Seminary, a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from Pratt Institute, and a Ph.D. in Hebrew and Judaic Studies from New York University. His work has been exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. His paintings are held in numerous public and private collections, including the Karl Ernst Osthaus-Museum, the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, and the New Britain Museum of American Art. He currently lives and works in New Jersey.