Sam Foley
“Known for his large, atmospheric studies of urban landscape, including urban parkland, Sam’s earlier oil paintings captured the pregnant stillness of sunlit glades and the quiet of the blacktops at evening where roads run ominously under trees.” (Peter Entwisle)
Within Sam Foley's paintings, the Dunedin-based artist's
environs are rendered in meditative depictions of absent landscapes
and historic sites. A graduate of Otago School of Art, Sam's
beautifully rich yet starkly silent sites are knitted together with
layers of observation and nostalgia. (P. Hunt)
There is a sense of disquiet in the large paintings of foliage
with paths that wind to unknown destinations. Fascinated with
light, Sam has developed from night scenes to day, capturing the
reflections of sunlight falling between the leaves creating
patterns of shadows. The glow in his large oil paintings seems like
an illusion that Sam might actually capture sunlight, it is not an
illusion but his mastery of the oil paints that create the
luminosity in the works. He is capturing a finely nuanced
experience. This is how his work transcends surrealism and advances
to a different territory.
Sam has exhibits regularly throughout New Zealand and his work
is held in public and private collections in New Zealand,
Australia, and USA. He has received numerous prizes including
Cleveland Art Awards, Park Lane Art Awards, and Norfolk House
Realist Invitational.
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