Surfacing: Samantha French

OcTober 16, 2015 - January 3,2016

The work of Samantha French and Rhea Pappas inspired the launching of the Minnesota Marine Art Museum’s ongoing emerging artist series, titled Surfacing. Born and educated in Minnesota, and a current Brooklyn (NY) resident, French has a unique vision resulting in an astounding recent body of work depicting swimmers in pools and lakes. Only superficially similar to the work of artist Rhea Pappas, French’s paintings are poetically inspired by nostalgia for her childhood and familial bonding in Minnesota’s lake country. Those cozy memories are transformed by her current environment in the almost entirely human-built world of New York City. In the artist’s words, “I attempt to recreate the quiet tranquility of water and nature; of days spent sinking and floating, still and peaceful. These paintings are a link to my home and continual search for the feeling of the sun on my face and warm summer days at the lake. They are my escape, a subtle reprieve from the day-to-day.”

This exhibition is courtesy of the artist.