Sam Leitch is a contemporary painter and print maker living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Sam sees himself as a storyteller of everyday life and the unknown, capturing time and combining commonplace objects and surrealist expressions to invite the viewer in to the painting.
He has always been fascinated with what makes a piece of art. The connection between the viewer, the artist and the piece is a relationship which dominates his ever-evolving art practice.
Sam and I have a great chat, firstly off air about our dogs - my border collie Mali and his Staffy cross Mikey. On air, we talk about his experience studying fine art at university straight from school at the age of 17 and a life changing experience he had at uni that still runs deep with him 16 years later and affects his art practice today. By the age of 24 he was represented by 2 Auckland galleries with a sell out first solo show and marked the beginning of a full time career as an artist. Sam shares why he likes to include birds in his latest work combined with abstract shapes, his painting process including how he uses resin to get a shine for some works and sands it back to create a tile like hardness and flatness, a contrast he enjoys. We discuss his screen printing process and why he loves this medium so much.
Sam is part of a group show Contemporary Creations of Colour at Turua Gallery with Beautifully Frank Frankie meaden and Agate Rubene, Restless & Infectious. This gorgeous show starts tomorrow - Friday August 23rd (with an opening event from 5pm) and runs until September 4th 2024.
Ngā mihi nui, thank you Turua Gallery for generously sponsoring this episode.
Comments