SAMUELSON, Bruce W.
Artist Name: Bruce Samuelson
Category: Painting
Title: Composition #29
Signed: Verso
Size: 70"H x 56"W
Medium: Oil
Material/Ground: Canvas/board
Style: Abstract Figuration
Subject: Figure/Portrait/Genre
TITLE: 5-3
ARTIST: Bruce Samuelson
CATEGORY: Works on Paper (Drawings, Watercolors etc.)
MATERIALS: pastel, charcoal
SIZE: h: 24 x w: 19 in / h: 61 x w: 48.3 cm
Art Space Talk: Bruce Samuelson
Kocot and Hatton introduced me to Bruce Samuelson. Mr. Samuelson's interest with the
figure reveals itself more as an interest in, or an accumulation of shifting
glimpses. Torsos and appendages turn and twist as a result of Samuelson's search for
a formal resolution that seems determined to remain open to the flux of process and
discovery. One thing is certain, we end up in the presence of human form and
activity.
Bruce Samuelson is a Professor of Painting and Drawing at the Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA. He is represented in numerous public collections
which include: the Picker Art Gallery, Colgate University, NY; William Penn Museum,
Harrisburg, PA; Philadelphia Museum of Art; and Rutgers University, NJ; Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Art.
Mr. Samuelson is represented by J. Cacciola Galleries (www.jcacciolagallery.com),
Rosenfeld Gallery (www.therosenfeldgallery.com) and Wendt Gallery
(www.wendtgallery.com).
samuelson interview:
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Brian Sherwin: Bruce, Kocot and Hatton introduced me to you. How did you meet them?
Have they influenced your art?
Bruce Samuelson: We met in the early 60’s while we were students at the Pennsylvania
Academy of the Fine arts. Yes they have and still do influence me...perhaps inspire
is a better word. Kocot and Hatton’s work ethics, fearless experimentation with
ideas and mediums and exceptional technical execution is constant in their
collaborations.
BS: Have you collaborated with others? Kocot and Hatton make a great team. It is
rare for artists to work so well together. Do you agree?
BS: No, I have not collaborated with anyone. The closest I ever came to it was when
I was a student at the Academy. The film director David Lynch and I, from what I
recall, wanted our paintings to move. We talked about collaborating on a very
strange animated film. Unfortunately I chickened out. I agree, Marcia and Tom make a
great team. They are very strong individuals that are highly synchronized. Who ever
reads this interview might want to read your excellent recent interview with Kocot
and Hatton.
BS: I notice that you often work on ragboard. Do you prefer that surface?
BS: My works on paper are on high quality papers, however, ragboard is my preferred
support...It can take whatever I can throw at it.
BS: When I view your figures I'm reminded of Egon Schiele's work. Is he an influence?
BS: He is definitely one of my Gods. But I would have to include influences from
Michelangelo, Goya, Rembrandt, de Kooning, Le Brun and Bacon.
BS: In regards to your figurative work... I notice that the bodies are often
fragmented- limbs are often missing- this conveys a sense of decay. Is that
intentional?
BS: I never thought of it as decay. However, my work does involve destruction. My
work usually begins in chaos, and develops an organic structure by chance. This
structure is often destroyed and rebuilt again and again until there is nothing more
that I can do.
BS: I also noticed that the faces of your figures often run off the page, so to
speak. Psychologically it conveys a sense of loss... or disconnection. Can you go
into further detail about that? Is that your intention?
BS: I would not say that it is a sense of loss, but more of something not yet found.
Seeing the completeness in the fragment has been an interest to me since I was a
student at the Academy. One of the first and most powerful images that I studied at
the Academy was a life size plaster cast of the fragmented Torso Belvedere. Other
great works of Art that have inspired me are Michelangelo's late crucifixion
drawings and his late pietas, also Rodan’s Walking Man, Cesanne’s Large Bathers and
works of Giacometti. These works and many others that have an incompleteness about
them are of extreme interest to me. This unfinished quality suggest a
continuation...the viewer in essence completes the work.
BS: Do you ever push your figures too far, so to speak? It would seem that you see
the creation of them as a gamble... they either work or they don't. Is that so?
Would you say that your work controls you as much as you control the tools of its
creation?
BS: It is always hard for me to decide when a work has gone too far or not far
enough. Every mark is a beginning and every mark is an ending. But if I do sense
that a work has gone too far, becomes too explicit and has lost its mystery, then it
is dead. I have to destroy part or all of it so that I can rebuild it and hopefully
bring it back to life. Yes, it is often a gamble, however, nothing is left by chance
but left by judgment. I would not consider working as a form of control but rather a
dialogue. I have to allow the work to point the way. And I must respect the
intrinsic nature of the material and let it do its own thing. If I don’t do this
then the work will be contrived and unsuccessful.
BS: Bruce, I understand that you are an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of
the Fine Arts. Can you describe your instructional style?
BS: Addressing the individual is most important. I believe it is critical to
identify the student’s strengths, weaknesses and personal interests. I feel
technical skills and formal issues are very important and they should be encouraged
on all student levels. However, I also feel that personal ways of seeing and
expressing personal ideas should also be encouraged. Basically I try to instill in
the student the qualities I described as Kocot and Hatton having.
BS: Do your students ever influence your personal work? Is instructing art a 'give
and take' of information?
BS: I do not think they influence my work directly. Although their energy often rubs
off on me...they also drain me. It takes at least a day to clear my head of two very
full days of teaching. Yes it is a ‘give and take’. I think I have learned more from
teaching than I have from being taught.
BS: Do you have any suggestions for current art students or anyone who is
considering art school?
BS: My usual advice is keep your mind open and work your ass off. This is probably
not a sufficient amount of advice. so I would like to include three of my favorite
quotes that have greatly inspired me. ‘If a man does not keep pace with his
companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the
music which he hears, however measured or far away.’ -Henry David Thoreau ‘We shall
not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where
we started and know the place for the first time.’ -T. S. Eliot ‘people who have
found true knowledge fall silent. If I were a philosopher I would stop painting; I’d
do nothing at all. That would be the silence of Zen. The only thing to do is to
carry on searching for the light; I haven’t found it yet, and that’s why I paint.’ -
Antoni Tapies
BS: What about self-taught artists... any advice for them?
BS: Same as the above. I would add that your best teachers are nature, history
[Libraries, Museums etc.] and experience.
BS: Finally, where can we see more of your work? Do you have any exhibitions planned
in the near future?
BS: I recently ended an exhibition at the J. Cacciola Gallery, however, the three
galleries that represent me always have examples of my work on hand.
J. Cacciola Galleries, 531 West 25thStreet, New York, NY, 10011,
www.jcacciolagallery.com
Rosenfeld Gallery, 113 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, www.therosenfeldgallery.com
Wendt Gallery 1550 South Coast HWY Suite 102 Laguna Beach,CA 92651
www.wendtgallery.com
I hope that you have enjoyed learning about Bruce Samuelson and his art. Feel free
to leave a comment.
Take care, Stay true,
Brian Sherwin