Teri Sanders | NYC Painter & Contemporary Portrait Artist

CURATED WORKS

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Hillary Clinton

Oil on board

12" x 18"

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Elephant

1991

Oil on board

8" (w) x 10" (h)

I wanted this elephant to feel less like an animal study and more like a presence — strong, grounded, and full of memory. The texture and shadow are doing a lot of the emotional work here. It's one of those pieces where the surface matters just as much as the subject.

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Jar

1993

Oil on board

12" (w) x 14" (h)

I've always loved the tension in still life — how something ordinary can become strange, beautiful, or unexpected when you slow down and really look at it. This piece is about color, reflection, and the quiet drama of everyday objects. Sometimes a simple bottle and a few pieces of fruit are enough to build a whole mood.

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Maborosi

1995

Oil on board

16" x 12"

For The New Yorker, Maborosi becomes an image of quiet tension—restrained, introspective, and deeply atmospheric. With its muted palette and deliberate structure, the painting suggests an inner life that lingers beyond the frame.

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Greg

1996

Oil on board

26" (w) x 26" (h)

A figure in sunlight can be as revealing as any portrait. I wanted this one to feel relaxed on the surface, but still emotionally charged in the way light, shadow, and posture work together. The geometric background helps frame the figure almost like a stage set — part observation, part atmosphere.

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Yeats

1997

Oil on board

20" (w) x 22" (h)

Portraits of writers always feel like a conversation with thought itself. This one leans into that inward, searching energy — serious, observant, and a little guarded. I'm drawn to faces that seem to hold a sentence before they speak it. That's the kind of tension I wanted here.

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Self Portrait

1997

Oil on board

12" (w) x 18" (h)

I wanted this portrait to feel intimate but steady — a face held in warm light, with enough texture to suggest history and enough stillness to suggest resilience. There's something powerful about a portrait that doesn't try too hard. It just meets you where you are.

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Junior

2007

Oil on Canvas

16" (w) x 12" (h)

There's something about a face that has lived a few good decades — the kind of face that carries history without needing to explain itself. I wanted this portrait to honor that quiet dignity. The warm tones and patterned background help give the figure a sense of place, presence, and character.

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Recognition

Teri's artwork has been published in leading publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, and New York Magazine. Her work has also been exhibited as part of the prestigious BP Portrait Award in London. Based in New York, Sanders continues to create paintings that combine technical skill with a distinctive personal vision.

Group Exhibition

2005 — Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UKNational Portrait Gallery (2004 BP Award Exhibition)

2004 — Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, UKNational Portrait Gallery (2004 BP Award Exhibition)

2004 — Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter, UKNational Portrait Gallery (2004 BP Award Exhibition)

2004 — National Portrait Gallery, London, UKNational Portrait Gallery (2004 BP Award Exhibition)

1997 — Art Directors Club, New York, NYSchool of Visual Arts (Thesis Exhibition)

1995 — The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MOKansas City Art Institute (Graduating Exhibition)

Published Work

2011 — National Portrait Gallery, London, UK500 Artist: BP Portrait Award, 31st Anniversary Book (Subject: Selected portrait from 2004 exhibition)

2003 — Atlantic Monthly, Boston, MAFeature Illustration (Subject: Billy Holiday)

1998-2003 — New York Magazine, New York, NYCover and feature illustrations (Subject: Hood Fellas)

1996-1999 — The New Yorker, New York, NYSpot illustrations (Subjects: Koyla—1996 Best Foreign Film; Theatre)

1997 — New York Times Book Review, New York, NYCover Illustrations (Subjects: Hilary Clinton, Ross Perot, and William Yeats)

"Tiff my boi" included in this publication: 500Portraits: 25 Years of the BP Portrait Award is a highly acclaimed art book published by the National Portrait Gallery. It highlights over 500 contemporary figurative paintings from the competition's celebrated history, showcasing diverse styles from hyper-realism to expressionism.

Teri Sanders is a painter based in New York City whose work explores portraiture and contemporary figurative painting.

I am interested in the space between realism and interpretation, where texture, light, and atmosphere reveal something deeper than surface detail. Whether painting people, objects, or scenes from daily life, I want each piece to feel intimate, thoughtful, and alive.

CURATED WORKS

Recognition

Group Exhibition

Published Work