Anna Samara

instagram.com/annasamarasi
Fb: Anna Samara

  • Infra Ohentra (2023,oil on canvas, 20 x 18 in) :Portrait of a woman. In this portrait, she embodies both spirits of predator and prey; with the look of a medusa-like figure, through the lens of another potential predator creature. She is painted in the colors of flames, which she mirrors back to the viewer, through her confrotantional and unapologetic gaze.

    01 “Infra Ohentra” (2023) - Oil on canvas - 24 x 18 inches

  • The Shiny One :( 2023, oil on canvas, 36 x 50 in): Thermal landscape. Blue, yellow and orange hues, signify that there is a warm body in the picture. The softness between the colors are almost blinding to the eager observer.

    02 The Shiny One II (2023) - Oil on canvas - 36 x 50 inches

  • Ghost Notes : (2024, oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm): Thermal imaging technology, which is commonly used to locate missing people, is used work to reveal the tenderness behind the steel armor that conceals (or protects?) the wearer’s femininity.

    03 Ghost Notes (2024) - Oil on canvas - 39.4 x 27.5 inches

  • Vigilant : (2023, oil on canvas 12 x 16 in): A snake- like creature sits curled up on unknown territory. The viewer sees the creature painted in blue hues.

    04 Looking at you looking at me (2024) - Oil on canvas - 16 x 14 inches

  • Time to Shed : (2023, Oil on Canvas, 12 x 12 in) Self portrait. A mirror selfie turned into a thermal landscape, to reveal the complexity of facing one’s own reflection. On the surface under the miror, snake-like forms start to take over the, otherwise, mundane setting.

    05 Time to Shed (2023) - Oil on canvas - 12 x 12 inches

  • Craving : ( 2024 oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm) A close up of dark and slippery looking snake-like forms. They are almost braided together, like entangled cords or intestines.

    06 Craving (2024) - Oil on canvas - 16 x 16 inches

  • Save For Later : (2024) oil on canvas, 100 x 70 cm ) Kill Bill's The Bride looks over her katana, while a flag-like form sits underneath it. On the form, there is a smaller painting of a hand holding a flaming heart.

    07 Save For Later (2024) - Oil on canvas - 39.4 x 27.5 inches

  • Save For Later (close-up): A close up of the portrait in the previous painting. One set of greenish-blue eyes looking over a katana sword.

    08 Save For Later [detail] (2024) - Oil on canvas - 39.4 x 27.5 inches

  • Technicolor Noir (2023, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in) Painting of a film noir setting, featuring 4 main figures.From left to right: A pair of legs wearing high heels posing behind a curtain, a manequin without arms in a lemon yellow satin dress, another set of legs peaking behind a curtain and sitting on the floor next to the manequin wearing bright red pants. Over those legs a bigger portrait of a femme looking manequin in a contemplating pose, painted in ultramarine.

    09 Technicolor Noir (2023) - Oil on canvas - 18 x 24 inches

Artist Statement

Drawing from scientific sources and technologies such as thermal imaging and photography, I aim to bring new questions with respect to the politics of representation within traditional media. The scenes depicted in the paintings come from a range of different sources; nature & ecology documentaries, pop culture, museum archives, internet archives, as well as imagined subjects. Symbols and elements that refer to the Greek myth of Medusa, the Gorgon, can be found throughout my work. In the contemporary world it is clear that Medusa doesn’t turn the viewer into stone; the mythical creature makes the viewer aware of the changes that occur within this moment of gazing. The composition of the paintings––sometimes overlapping one another, sometimes spaced apart––creates a psychological interface which highlights the reciprocal relationship between the one who sees and the one who is being seen. The depiction of the dynamic relationship of “predator and prey” operates as a way to think further of what it means to observe and be observed, and the complexities that this bears in the age of social media and the constant surveillance of the self. 

Artist Bio

Anna Samara is a Greek visual artist currently living in New York, USA. She attained an Integrated Master’s Degree from Athens School of Fine Arts in Greece (2021), and moved to New York City after receiving a scholarship to pursue graduate studies and to obtain her Master’s degree (MFA) from Parsons School of Design (2024). She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally several times including at The Opening Gallery, in New York City, USA, Gallerie Bart in Amsterdam, Netherlands, U10 Art Space in Belgrade, Serbia, ViZ Laboratory for Visual Culture and Crux Galerie in Athens, Greece.