Sam Foster, My context, your confusion
Exhibition • Closes Saturday, June 7, 2025
Gallery hours
Saturday, May 10, 11am-3pm
Saturday, May 17, 11am-3pm
Saturday, May 24, 11am-3pm
Saturday, May 31, 11am-3pm
Friday, June 6, 6–9pm – Artist’s Reception
Saturday, June 7, 11am-3pm – Last Look
Curator’s Statement
In his solo exhibition, My context, your confusion, Sam Foster has painted what he describes as “weather-scapes of loss, drug addiction and fear. Departing from his formerly figurative work “these paintings came from a drive to make work that relies on an internal and physical translation of emotions rather than illustration or coherent representation.” Using a process which he calls “clean up or cover up,” his box panel paintings are built up with plaster masses, fabric, studio detritus, slapdash photo transfers, and surface castings of his fingertips and walls. Biographical images and ephemera are then tightened up or masked by Foster’s intuitive painting style in sweet and sour colors. It’s a game of Marco Polo between Alan Vega, Georg Baselitz, Francis Bacon’s shitty floor, and 19th century memento mori. Buried and shaken out of context, obsessively colored and bedazzled, these condensed images create a new meaning, one that is more truthful and telling.
Artist’s Statement
“It can be argued that a painting’s number one job is to make a room look better. I believe painting can also serve as an emotional connection between the maker and the viewer. Because of this connection I propose that all the works in this show are free, or donation based if you desire to take one of these objects home.” -Sam Foster, 2025
Artist Bio
Sam Foster grew up in Lawrence, Kansas. As a teenager he lost his father to suicide and was enrolled in after-school art programs for affected youth where he was introduced painting and slam poetry. His abstract paintings are influenced by this relationship to language and grief and are also informed by his experience working in mental health and addiction recovery.
Sam received his BFA in Studio Art at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) in Milwaukee, WI and an MFA from Maharishi International University (MIU) in Fairfield IA. Sam resides in Austin, TX and has been a long-time member of the artist run studios and gallery, Spellerberg Projects.