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 portraits of packing materials and other containers. I’m interested in contemplating things we use to fill empty space as well as the objects designed specifically to hold – either tightly or loosely. The language of “holding” encompasses everything from containment, to a fierce hug, to the concept of holding space for something or someone. This series of paintings is largely about the multiplicity of experience. The repetition of objects under different lighting conditions, rendered with different palettes, speaks to the way we can experience the same situation and come away with entirely different interpretations of reality. Clarity can be found in the nuances of repetition, of hearing the same story told from different perspectives to deepen our understanding and wrestle with complexity. I am forever striving to make the invisible visible.

Bio:
Samantha Haring is an artist and educator from Des Plaines, Illinois. Haring earned her MFA from Northern Illinois University and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They spent a summer in Italy at the International School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture; it was there that they fully developed their commitment to light, color, and observational painting. Haring was one of the 2015-16 Artists-in-Residence at Manifest Gallery, and she has taught drawing and design courses at the University of Cincinnati since 2016. Haring’s work is published in issues #119, #123, and #179 of New American Paintings, as well as in multiple recent Manifest INDA and INPA publications. They have work available with Kathryn Markel Fine Arts in New York and Southside Gallery in Mississippi. Her studio practice is currently based in Cincinnati, where she spends an inordinate amount of time analyzing the color of dust.