These boxes, this printing machine (?), and this portrait fascinate me, even upset me. Who is the artist who changed the appearance of these objects and made them into art? It is Lucas Samaras, born on September 14th 1936 in Kastoria, Greece. In 1948, Samaras and his mother settled in the USA.
During his studies, he met artists like Allan Kaprow, George Segal, and Meyer Schapiro.
Samaras was already known as a sculptor, painter, and performance artist when, in 1973, he discovered that the wet dyes of Polaroid prints were highly malleable, allowing him to create what he calls "photo-transformations."
He makes these images in the modest New York apartment that also serves as his studio. Describing himself as a "peeping tom", Samaras makes and remakes his own image to create a multi-faceted portrait of himself.
These self-portrait photographs are distorted, terrifying, and often mutilated images.
In 2009, Lucas Samaras represented Greece at the 53rd Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition.
Lucas Samaras is represented by The Pace Gallery in New York.
He is an incredible artist; I find his work fascinating, sometimes strange, but always full of feeling.
The following link shows an interview of Samaras: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzGOmQ4Uu1g
Samara is fascinated by boxes and uses them all the time in his art; in a way, his tortured self-portraits show him imprisoned in the box-like frame of the photographs...
Article by Alissa Viguier
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