BIOGRAPHY | ARTIST STATEMENT | ART OF PULP PAINTING | VIEW CV
Preston Sampson is a colorist who’s use of mediums include acrylic and mixed media on canvas, pulp painting, encaustics , digital and printmaking.” Social Justice is and should be embodied in the rhythms and beat of our lives, in the everyday activities of walking, birdwatching, dancing. Much of my work is inspired by tales of my ancestors, especially those of Black men, often heroic in content and scale. Heroic in the simple navigation of a day without the certainty of justice.
In the series Black MaleD, Unidentified black male subjects, the term often translates to the mainstream public a threat , something to be viewed with suspicion or dread. The series many of which are portraits depict my counter narrative to the media depiction of our men both young and old. Heroic often overlooked subjects, fathers, teachers, husbands, friends, the everyday man. Our regal strength and perseverance in a continuum.
Preston Sampson is a storyteller. Heavily influenced by Social Realism and the Ashcan School , artist such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence,Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton are examples of his predecessors of social narrative painters. Telling stories of history and of the common mans plight. His University of Maryland mentors Sam Gilliam and David Driskellalso have had major impacts on his artistic journey.Sampson emerged in the mid-1980s with works that elegantly merge the figurative with vibrant fluid color palettes, based on themes that depict the dignity and pride of the Black community. The beauty of Sampson’s work is founded upon his mastery of rendering the human form, exceptional ability to capture human emotion, intriguing blending of mixed-media and collage that provides even deeper nuance to his narratives, all in a dynamic, fluid field of warm colors.
A series of formal breakthroughs such as printmaking, encaustics and mixed media works on wood and aluminum resulted in his canonical pulp painting, which expanded upon the tenets of Abstract Expressionism to visually convey the African American experience in America.
His painted series of dancers in blue monotone, while reminiscent of Picasso’s blue period and Degas’ dancers, are gorgeous depictions of Black ballerinas in a post-impressionist vernacular.
His most recent series of “Black-maled”portraits depict a range of human emotions, courage and endurance that Black men experience in America. This series features singular portraits which share with the viewer each subject’s subconscious vulnerabilities and strength, all the while in Sampson’s delicious palette of colors and exceptional human form.
For an African American artist during the latter half of the 20th century, his work authentically epitomizes the journey, hope, struggle and accomplishment of Black Americans during the post-Civil Rights Era, in a sumptuous visual aesthetic based on classical training and experimentation. Sampson continues to evolve his work, regularly creating new series in different media and forms consistent with his drive to share genuine emotion through a gorgeous aesthetic.
Sampson’s work can be found in many public private and institutional collections