Sarah Tompkins’ abstract paintings emerge from the tensions between the known and unknowable. Her practice enacts powers of desire and denial through a body-oriented search for meaning in the face of uncertain futures. Tompkins holds an MFA from the University of Ottawa, where she was awarded the Michel Goulet Prize for Outstanding Thesis Exhibition (2023), and the Stonecroft Scholarship (2022). Recent solo exhibitions include Roman Candle at de Montigny Contemporary in Ottawa, ON (2025), As Within, So Without at Tian Contemporain in Montreal, QC (2024) and Rotting Fig, Empty Stomach at Lalani-Jennings Contemporary Art in Guelph, ON (2023). Her work has been placed in several major collections including Google Canada, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, and the Global Affairs Visual Arts Collection. She was the 2025 Invited Professor in Painting at the University of Ottawa Department of Visual Arts.
Available Artworks
artwork detail
Now the air is so filled with ghosts / that no one knows how to escape them, 2023
Sarah Tompkinsmixed media on canvas, 144" x 240"