ABOUT

Artist Statement:
I make quiet paintings in a noisy world. My work is an intimate meditation on humble objects and the detritus of studio life. I aim to promote a reengagement with the mundane while creating a moment of reflection for the viewer.

The artist's studio is full of memory; its history is evident in the residue layered on the walls and floor, as well as the dusty objects scattered around the room. These remnants serve as a metaphor for the imprints people leave behind on each other and on the world. By painting forgotten corners, blank expanses, and abandoned objects, I explore the duality of absence and presence while questioning the intangibility of loss.

My current work is a series of single-object portraits of packing materials and other containers. I’m interested in contemplating the things we use to fill empty space. Bubble wrap, air pockets, and other kinds of recycled paper are temporary objects by design: they are intrinsically important while something is in transit, but immediately disposable once the destination is reached. These objects offer a literal form of cushioning, protection, or armor; yet when seen in isolation, they become as much about the space around them and the things unseen as they are about themselves. I am forever striving to make the invisible visible. Emptiness is an illusion. Even in silence, there is a tremendous amount of noise.

Bio:
Samantha Haring is an artist and educator from Des Plaines, Illinois. She earned her MFA from Northern Illinois University (2014) and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2011). She spent a summer in Italy at the International School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture; it was there that she fully developed her commitment to light, color, and observational painting. Haring is represented by Gallery 19 in Chicago. Her work has been featured in issues #119 and #123 of New American Paintings as well as several recent Manifest INPA and INDA publications. She was one of the 2015–16 Manifest Artists-in-Residence. Haring teaches drawing and design courses in the School of Design at DAAP, and she has been a Resident Instructor at Manifest Drawing Center since 2016. Her studio practice is currently based in Cincinnati, where she spends an inordinate amount of time staring at the color of dust.