*1983
North America
French
Samantha
2728
Artist ID:
Brief Biography
Born and raised in north central Minnesota, Samantha French graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2005. French’s current body of work explores the idea of escape, the tranquility and nostalgia for the lazy summer days of her childhood. The series is inspired by Samantha’s own reflections and memories of her childhood summers spent in the lakes of Northern Minnesota. French actively exhibits her paintings and is included in many private and public collections throughout the country while her work has garnered extensive international and national press. She is a full-time painter and keeps a studio in Kingston, New York.
Brief Biography
Born and raised in north central Minnesota, Samantha French graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2005. French’s current body of work explores the idea of escape, the tranquility and nostalgia for the lazy summer days of her childhood. The series is inspired by Samantha’s own reflections and memories of her childhood summers spent in the lakes of Northern Minnesota. French actively exhibits her paintings and is included in many private and public collections throughout the country while her work has garnered extensive international and national press. She is a full-time painter and keeps a studio in Kingston, New York.
Further Works of This Artist
Our Mission and Actions
At THE ART HUB, our mission is initially focused on addressing a profound imbalance within the art world, specifically catering to women artists. In the current landscape, a mere 5% to 15% of artworks traded at auctions are created by women, starkly contrasted by the overwhelming 85% to 95% of works by male artists. This disparity is not only confined to auctions but is also prevalent in exhibitions, where male-created art significantly overshadows that of their female counterparts.
By concentrating our efforts on female artists, THE ART HUB aims to counteract this imbalance and champion women within the art community. This initiative is designed to amplify the visibility of women artists, making their creations more accessible to a wider audience, and ultimately striving for a more balanced representation of genders within art auctions and exhibitions. By prioritizing women in art, our platform boldly advocates for equality and diversity within the art sector, signaling a commitment to reshaping and enriching the cultural landscape.
Artist Statement
My current body of work is focused on swimmers underwater and above. Using vague yet consuming memories from my childhood summers spent immersed in the tepid lakes of northern Minnesota, I attempt to recreate the quiet tranquility of water and nature; of days spent sinking and floating, still and peaceful. These paintings are a link to my home and continual search for the feeling of the sun on my face and warm summer days at the lake. They are an escape, a subtle reprieve from the day-to-day.
The use of my underwater photography (and the work that goes into these reference images) is as important a part of the process as the painting itself. After taking thousands of photographs and culling those down, I manipulate elements within multiple different images to achieve the final photo. After that I start the actual oil painting, and even then it is only a guide to capturing the bubbles and ripples that bend the light on sun drenched bodies.
Realistic and representational in nature, this work uses the figure as a reference point and allows me to focus on those abstractions and distortions the water provides with energetic and obsessive mark making. They are the ongoing investigation of my relationship to the water and the recreation of experience; the feeling of being immersed, cool and wet, warm and sun- drenched. This combination of memory, observation and photography has allowed me to preserve the transitory qualities of water and remembrance.
