figura obscura Drawing

Born in El Paso , Texas, Sam is a visual artist working with mixed media focusing on the human face and figure as vehicles for expressing motion and emotion in life. He is self-taught, and takes his inspiration from also practicing the Japanese martial art of Aikido, an art form that emphasizes fluidity in execution, urgency of purpose and the harmonizing of opposing forces via a non-violent approach to resolving conflict. His art is visceral and luminous, horrific and beautiful, all characteristics found in a personal life experienced as a liminal being: a being caught in the middle of two clashing cultures. Sam is a Hispanic-American of Puerto-Rican and Mexican descent, and his unique world view emerges from living on the hyphen of conflicting social, cultural and ethnic identities.