Nigel as Mars - Samantha Harrison
This painting series, Recreations of Myth and Spirit, seeks to recreate figures of mythological and religious origin as modern people. In creating each painting the objective is to match each model to different figures based on a moment of perceived similarity, while also deliberately mismatching the models in other aspects of their visual characteristics, such as their perceived racial identity, or biological sex. In this an attempt is made to draw focus upon the idea that mythological and spiritual figures are deeply connected to – and inspired by – various aspects of the human condition, even the mundane. With this the viewer is hopefully encouraged to identify with these figures, and by extension, engage with the stories surrounding them without feelings of exclusion. Gods may or may not be, but regardless god-likeness is within everyone.
Artist Bio:
Samantha Harrison is a recent graduate of Emily Carr University of Art + Design, with a BFA majoring in painting. She was born and raised in B.C.’s lower mainland, and currently lives in Vancouver B.C.
Her work consists primarily of oil paintings featuring traditional still-lives, or the human figure, painted in a Photorealist style. She has won multiple scholarships, including the Michael J. Fox Visual and Performing Arts Scholarship, the Vancouver Art Guild Scholarship, and the Ian Gillespie Aboriginal Art Scholarship.
Her recent exhibition history includes ‘AIRE 2020’, at the Federation of Canadian Artists, ‘Art Rich 2019’, at Richmond Art Gallery, and ‘The Hands Talk’, at Emily Carr University, among others. She is inspired by the concept of perfection, with its correlations with definitions of goodness and virtue, and by the human inability to be free of moral contradiction. This is something she continually explores both in style and subject matter.
Follow Samantha online at:
Website: https://www.sharrison.me
Instagram: @samanthas.painting
Instagram: @samanthas.painting