Garth Greenan Gallery is delighted to announce representation of Jasmin Sian. Born in the Philippines, Sian is a New York–based artist renowned for her delicate, labor-intensive works on paper.
A group of eight recent works by the artist are currently on view in the 2026 Whitney Biennial.
Sian begins by gathering discarded paper from New York City streets and subsequently transforms this found material—gum or lollipop wrappers, deli bags and donut bags—into exquisitely intricate cut-paper constructions. Using specialized Japanese blades, she makes careful incisions in the paper, and then, with a single-hair brush, creates miniature renderings of plants, birds, and animals in gouache, graphite, and ink. Recalling doilies or fragments of lace, the finished works memorialize specific encounters or moments in time, such as a dog playing in a field or chipmunks foraging on a branch. Sian imbues these quotidian scenes with wonderment and transcendence—a sense of awe at the everyday.
Sian moved from the Philippines to Texas at age 13, studying first at the University of Houston before receiving MFA in 1998 from Parsons School of Design in New York. Since the late 1990s, Sian has worked from her small home studio near Times Square. Urban wildlife, plants in city parks, and her pet bird Matsu are constant subjects of inspiration and depiction. Though her process is exacting, requiring time and attention, Sian’s works overtly reveal her process, made manifest in tiny irregularities and imperfections. This residue of the artist’s hand—a record of her labor—brings her work palpably, powerfully to life. Ultimately, Sian’s work makes a case for decoration, for ornament. A quiet refutation of Western minimalism, her gossamer arabesques and floriated lines reflect an ethos, derived from her Catholic upbringing in the Philippines, that the more you embellish something, the more you have honored that thing.
Sian is the recipient of the 1998 Joan Mitchell MFA Grant; the 1997 Larrogue Artist Colony; and the 1989 Alliance Francaise Scholarship.
Sian has had solo exhibitions at Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco and Cameron and Weiland, New York. Group exhibitions include Whitney Biennial 2026, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2026; Surface/Depth: The Decorative After Miriam Schapiro, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, 2018; Chick Lit: Revised Summer Reading, Tracy Williams Ltd, New York, 2013; East Ex East, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy, 2011; Alimatuan: The Emerging Artist as American Filipino, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, 2011; Moment by Moment: Meditations of the Hand, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, North Dakota, 2011; artintime, Sumi, New York, 2011; The Joan Mitchell Foundation 1997–1999 MFA Grant Recipient Group Exhibition, Cue Art Foundation, New York, 2005; Jasmin, E31 Gallery, Athens, Greece, 2005; Jasmin Sian and Matthew Sontheimer, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, 2004; Needle Art: A Postmodern Sewing Circle, Exhibits USA, Kansas City, Missouri, 2003; Gardens of Pleasure, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 2000; (In)tangible, Margaret Thatcher Gallery, New York, 2000; inter-views 1999, Kappatos Gallery, Athens, Greece, 1999; needle art, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California, 1999; and Warmer Still, Videoland, New York, 1999.
Selected public collections include The Art Institute of Chicago and Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Jasmin Sian is co-represented by Anthony Meier, Mill Valley, California.