F100-2
After moving to Venice this spring artist Samantha Thomas is up every day at 6 am to begin her daily training. After a good surf she is off to her studio in downtown Los Angeles to start making work.
The natural beauty gave up an athletic scholarship to pursue the arts and hasn’t looked back since. Beginning her practice with abstract painting and now transitioning into conceptual art, her work is popping up in influential group shows and on collectors walls.
When did you start making art?
I always had a sketchbook in hand when I was young, but there is a huge gap from age 9 to 19 where I became distracted with athletics and completely misplaced that inclination. My roommate in college inspired the idea of taking a drawing class and I basically gave up my golf scholarship and moved to New York to make art.
Did your family encourage you to be creative?
Definitely, they always let me be my own person and encouraged me to explore my curiosities. They trusted me enough to support my decision to go to art school and release me into the wild, so I see that as being undeniable.
You are an athlete and enjoy surfing, skating and sports. How does your physical state of mind inspire your practice?
I don't really know any other way, I feel like I've always been practicing or trying to get better at something my whole life. Daily training is just part of my routine, so that has translated into my studio practice as well. When I feel strong physically, I'm strong mentally and it affects the decisions I make and how much confidence I have in my conviction.
On abstraction and painting, how has your work evolved to incorporate found objects?
The natural beauty gave up an athletic scholarship to pursue the arts and hasn’t looked back since. Beginning her practice with abstract painting and now transitioning into conceptual art, her work is popping up in influential group shows and on collectors walls.
When did you start making art?
I always had a sketchbook in hand when I was young, but there is a huge gap from age 9 to 19 where I became distracted with athletics and completely misplaced that inclination. My roommate in college inspired the idea of taking a drawing class and I basically gave up my golf scholarship and moved to New York to make art.
Did your family encourage you to be creative?
Definitely, they always let me be my own person and encouraged me to explore my curiosities. They trusted me enough to support my decision to go to art school and release me into the wild, so I see that as being undeniable.
You are an athlete and enjoy surfing, skating and sports. How does your physical state of mind inspire your practice?
I don't really know any other way, I feel like I've always been practicing or trying to get better at something my whole life. Daily training is just part of my routine, so that has translated into my studio practice as well. When I feel strong physically, I'm strong mentally and it affects the decisions I make and how much confidence I have in my conviction.
On abstraction and painting, how has your work evolved to incorporate found objects?