About

Emily Cate Sabree is a contemporary realist oil painter based in Manhattan. Her work examines disposable objects and leisure culture as central elements of American consumerism, using a precise, highly observational approach to reveal the contradictions, comforts, and complexities of modern life. Much of her recent practice focuses on plastic items associated with annual celebrations, objects used fleetingly yet destined to persist in landfills for centuries.

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Her ongoing series, Fragile Dissent, expands this investigation through the visual vocabulary of disposable plastic balloons, using their glossy, fragile surfaces as stand-ins for contemporary political expression. The work considers the tension between visibility and vulnerability in acts of resistance, questioning the durability of dissent in the face of systemic injustice and shifting political conditions. By foregrounding objects that are both celebratory and transient, the series asks how acts of opposition are communicated, sustained, and interpreted.

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A 2024–25 merit scholarship recipient at the Art Students League of New York, Sabree studied portraiture and figure painting with acclaimed White House portrait artist Sharon Sprung. She is a resident artist member of the Salmagundi Club, where she engages with a longstanding artistic community that continues to inform her practice. In 2025, she received awards from both institutions in recognition of her work.

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Sabree’s upcoming projects include an artist residency with the Mackinac Island Historic Trust as it commemorates the semiquincentennial of the United States. This residency supports her continued exploration of American leisure culture, particularly the customs and rituals surrounding vacations and celebration. She is also the curator of the 2026 Invitational Exhibition with Excess Contemporary Studios.

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Bridging traditional oil painting techniques with imagery drawn from contemporary culture, she creates work that is both visually meticulous and conceptually resonant, inviting viewers to reconsider their relationship to consumerism, political expression, and the overlooked objects that shape everyday experience.