ARTIST FEATURE - SAM KELSER
ARTIST | FEATURE
SAM KELSER
This months artist feature is Sam Kelser, a self-taught painter working in acrylic, whose contemporary narrative figurative works blur the line between intimate reality and haunting modern folklore.
Working from imagination or from old photographs, she is a storyteller, a weaver of tales in painterly form, an artist who makes work which at once asks more questions than it answers. Sam's pieces are both wonderfully real, recognisable quiet scenes and wildly made up ghost stories.
Taking influence from the expressionists of the early 20th Century, Sam's works often have a pensive or melancholic atmosphere as she explores grief, longing, and other emotionally complex ideas. Yet, alongside this emotional gravity lies a distinct sense of character and theatrics. Set against backdrops that feel unmistakably British – quiet living rooms, quaint public places and other muted domestic spaces – her figures navigate environments that balance mundane reality with subtle psychological tension.
Sam’s visual language is defined by its bold aesthetic choices. She works in a palette of deep, rich, and occasionally clashing colours that mirror the internal worlds of her characters; and a beautifully naive style, which focuses on emotions, connections and narratives rather than reality or likeness. Her compositions are intentionally dynamic and eccentric: characters peer unexpectedly into the edge of the frame, or stray limbs fall outside the canvas boundaries, inviting the viewer to consider the unseen world just beyond the painting.
Central to Sam’s work is the quiet conversation established between the subject and the observer. Her figures frequently engage in a direct gaze, meeting your eyes as you look at them. This interaction is never aggressively intense; rather, it creates a gentle, reciprocal inquisition. As you study her characters, trying to piece together their stories, they look back at you with equal curiosity. Through this subtle exchange, Sam transforms the act of viewing art into a shared, reflective experience.
Sam's work will be presented at her first solo show at Sixteen Gallery, open from 1 October. Entitled A Hugo Shaped Hole, the exhibition takes its title from the space left by the death of her dog, Hugo, in 2022. A space she began to fill with art, which, starting as a practice of healing, has grown into an ongoing fascination with people, emotion, psychology and the countless stories we create about one another.
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