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Robin Jack Sarner is a Los Angeles-based contemporary abstract artist working primarily in large-scale mixed media painting and works on paper. She considers lived experience a material: something that accumulates, alters us, and shapes who we become. Her work seeks to give physical form to the internal structures that develop through memory, relationships, and the experiences we carry.
Working with paint, fabric, paper, thread, and other materials, Sarner builds, disrupts, excavates, and reworks surfaces through an intuitive and responsive process. Rather than beginning with a predetermined image or meaning, she follows impulses that emerge through the act of making. Layers are concealed and exposed, fragments held together, and materials extend beyond the picture plane. Often, the painting arrives at an understanding before she can articulate it.
Her work grows from the possibilities introduced by Abstract Expressionism, while considering how abstraction can make the invisible dimensions of human experience tangible. She is also beginning to extend this inquiry beyond the canvas through sculpture.
Sarner holds a B.S. in Art Education from Florida Southern College, where she received the Albert Key Award for highest honors. After a career in business management and raising a family, she returned to her studio practice with renewed focus. Her work has been exhibited nationally, commissioned, and collected privately. Art critic and curator Peter Frank wrote Feeling Fields, an essay on her work, and filmed a studio visit with her.
Sarner is a member of the Los Angeles Art Association and The Artist Studio collective at Palos Verdes Art Center. Alongside her studio practice, she develops and teaches abstract art curricula for K–12 students throughout Southern California, reaching more than 6,000 children annually.
The Painting Process
Hipgnosis director Walter Mladina recently joined Robin in her studio to capture her painting process and talk freely about the experiences, ideas, and creative impulses that drive her work.
©️hipgnosis. Directed by Walter Mladina
EDUCATION
1991 Florida Southern College - Lakeland, United States Bachelor of Science Art Education
SELECTED AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
2025
Brand 53 Associates Award, Brand Library & Art Center, Juror Sigrid Burton, Glendale, CA
Best Painting, Palos Verdes Library District, Palos Verdes, CA
2022
Best of Fair, Saatchi Art, The Other Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
Echoes and Emergence, Palos Verdes Art Center, Palos Verdes, CA
Anamnesis: Remembering What We Forgot to Be, Gallery 612, Santa Monica, CA
2024
Dissonance to Euphony: An Artistic Journey, The Upper West, Santa Monica, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
Studio Systems, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
NOMAD, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Bigger Picture, Southern California Women's Caucus of Art, Range Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
On Being Jewish Now, Jewish Artist Initiative of Southern California, The Braid, Santa Monica, CA
2025
Colorstraction, Sasse Museum of Art, Pomona, CA
How’s the Weather, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA (Juror Shanna Nys Dambrot)
Imagine, Gallery 945, Jewish Artists Initiative, Los Angeles, CA
Brand 53, The Brand Library and Art Center, CA
NOMAD, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
TRYST, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Graphic, Minimal, Abstraction, Coastline Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA
Art of the Peninsula, The Artists Studio Gallery, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
The Other Side, Garel Fine Art Gallery, Manhattan Beach, CA (curated by me)
2024
NOMAD, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
Apophenia, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Brand 51, Brand Library & Art Center, Glendale, CA
Spectrum Gestalt, bG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Story Mapping, AJL Art Gallery, Buena Park, CA
Roots: Where We Come From, Where We Are, 1202 Contemporary, San Francisco, CA
The Summer Show, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (2024, 2023)
Juncture, Garel Fine Art Gallery, Manhattan Beach, CA
Art For All, Gallery of Hermosa, Hermosa Beach, CA
Art Within Reach, Ace Tiger Gallery, Torrance, CA
The Winter Show, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA (2017 - 2024)
2022
The Other Art Fair - Saatchi Art, Santa Monica, CA
Her Story, Manhattan Arts International, New York, NY
The Healing Power of Color, Manhattan Arts International, New York, NY
2021
PVAC90: Past, Present & Future, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Inspirational Art in Mixed Media, Manhattan Arts International, New York, NY
RESET, Unita, Manhattan Beach, CA (3 person show curated by me)
RESIDENCIES
2026
Artist-in-Residence, Studio Systems Experimental Residency, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2025
Fellow, Kipaipai Artist Development Workshop, Joshua Tree, CA
CURRICULUM DESIGN
2015–Present
Developed and scaled regional K-12 abstract art curricula implemented across multiple California South Bay Area school districts, coordinating with local administrators to strengthen district-wide arts programming.
2026, Live Demo Painting & Discussion - Palos Verdes Art Center and The Artists’ Studio Palos Verdes
PUBLICATIONS
BOLD Journey - Meet Robin Jack Sarner, August 2026
Voyage LA Magazine - “Life & Work with Robin Jack Sarner of Rancho Palos Verdes” Local Stories (May 2026)
Canvas Rebel, "Meet Robin Jack Sarner" Stories and Insights (February 2026)
Gene Sasse "A View from the Studio: Robin Jack Sarner" Gene Sasse, Sasse Museum of Art (February 2026)
Melina Paris, “Echoes and Emergence: Movement, Memory & Emotion Made Visible,” Random Length News, December 22, 2025
Jordan Tate, “Layers of Memory & Healing in Mixed Media Abstraction,” Indie Pathways Magazine, Vol. 10, p. 24-28, December 2025
Voyage LA, “Robin Jack Sarner’s Story,” November 20, 2025
Genie Davis, “Welcome to The Other Side at Garel Fine Art,” Diversions LA, August 24, 2025
Kristine Schomaker, “Why We Need More Exhibitions About Body Image, Eating Disorders, and Mental Health,” Art & Cake, August 2025
Cindy Donnelly, “Art in Focus,” Palos Verdes Magazine, 47, April 2024: 14-15.
Jorge R. G. Sagastume, “On Madness, Literature, and Art,” The Pasticheur: Literature, Art, & Ideas, Volume 2:1, January 2024
Voyage LA, “Daily Inspiration: Meet Robin Jack Sarner,” May 27, 2024
Bold Journey, “Meet Robin Jack Sarner,” March 26, 2024
Shoutout LA, "Meet Robin Jack Sarner--Abstract Artist," September 9, 2024
New & Abstract, "Five Questions to Robin Jack Sarner," 2023
Canvas Rebel, "Meet Robin Jack Sarner," January 16, 2023
Gail Phinney, “90 People & Programming: PVAC Past, Present & Future,” 2021