Sam Samore

Thinking about Sam Samore's work, subjects like people, close-up portraits of lips, eyebrows or eyes might come to mind, and even fragments of texts or short tales. All of these are easy to remember because of their subtle directness. Both in his sometimes cinematic photographs (often ink-jet prints) and in his words, Samore presents fragments of reality, which become abstracted in their isolation. Although lips are part of somebody's body they are ridden of this context and become metaphors. But of what? Or what is exactly the relationship between two people in a picture? Are these works about taste, touching, smells, …? Sensuality clearly plays a major role, but represented in a grainy, often painterly imagery. Paradoxes like these typify the work of Samore until now: figuration vs. abstraction, temptation vs. straightforwardness, reality vs. spirituality. Lots of space there for the viewer to enter a rich world.

The most recent works of Samore, now shown at VOUS ETES ICI, can perhaps been perceived as the most fairy-tale like and shamelessly seductive images up till now. Samore layers images of flowers and eyes in a variety of exuberant colours, depicting (at first sight) pure beauty. Eyelashes become part of the flowers and the petals turn the image into a kaleidoscopic landscape. The enlarged eyes, as super-mirrors of the soul, have been enriched by a floral corona. Whether the images represent pure beauty or a poetic uncertainty is up to the beholder. Pressetext

Sam Samore