AUX LAINES CORRIDOR

As a young painter, Sam McEwen (1960, United Kingdom) left London for New York to gain early acclaim in what was the heyday of N.Y.'s art scene in the eighties. Singled out for her talent, she was represented by Tony Shafrazi alongside Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, James Nares, James Brown. 

Although knowingness and pop-culture reverberate through Sam McEwen’s work, the obvious references are jettisoned – what is retained in her recently work is the pop-art tradition of breaking the world down to shiny surfaces; an approach that she has sophisticated and maturated.

The bold and insistent colours of the 21st century urban, commercial and digital aesthetics are tamed and stripped into semi-abstractions, peacefully layered and composed, barely hinting at the visual turmoil of the contemporary moment from which they came. All that remains, is peace, balance, glitter, gouache and tarpaulin. McEwen's work focuses on colour and forms through representations and interpretations of nature. Her large scale canvases range from a figurative narrative to abstract depictions.