SHERRI BELASSEN uses shapes and colors in a contemporary manner to create her unique artwork. Her work often portrays animals and figures in earth tones resonant with her Arizona home.

She was born and raised in Indianapolis and attended the University of Missouri on a full track and field scholarship while majoring in fine arts. Her dreams of making the Olympics were derailed by a sports injury. She then channeled her energies fully into art, graduating form Indiana University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She credits her inspiration in design and composition to trips she took as a child with her father in his two-seater airplane. The patterns and colors of the landscape informed her later aesthetic, which is built around defined blocks of color.

Belassen, who often portrays both humans and animals in her semi-abstract works, is well known for her striking contemporary images of horses. These images capture the essence of their subjects with charm and energy, evoking the stances, movements, and personalities of the animals. They convey the artist’s powers of observation as well as her sophisticated sense of design and original use of color.

Belassen admires the work of Helen Frankenthaler, Richard Diebenkorn, and Milton Avery, which should come as no surprise. These artists brought a gift for abstraction to their work, achieving artistic goals through the deft manipulation of shapes and colors. Belassen has melded her own contemporary vision with Western and Southwestern subject matter that is unique to her time and place. “In life and art, I try to stay true to myself and listen to my own voice.”