Triada Samaras Artwork

Transcending Bodies
James Howe Gallery. Kean University. Union, NJ
Triada Samaras and Yasmeen Abdullah Summer/Fall 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Kean University Department of Fine Arts James Howe Gallery Vaughn Eames Building, Kean University 1000 Morris Ave. Union, NJ 07083 Phone: (908) 737-4400
Email: [email protected] Artworks by Yasmeen Abdallah and Triada Samaras Summer/Fall 2024 James Howe Gallery is proud to present an exhibition titled, “Transcending Bodies”: Installations by Yasmeen Abdallah and paintings by Triada Samaras. The exhibition is on display from Sunday, July 28 through Friday, September 6, 2024. An artist reception will be held on Thursday, September 5, 2024 from 3-6 pm at the gallery. All are welcome to attend. “Transcending Bodies” features recent works by Yasmeen Abdallah and Triada Samaras, who are both Adjunct Faculty in the Fine Arts Department at Kean University.
Triada Samaras is an interdisciplinary artist whose work has been featured in numerous national and international exhibitions and venues. Samaras is a New England born, Greek-American who has family members living on both sides of the Atlantic. She has lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York for many years. For over 15 years, Samaras has been exploring the themes of identity, body, house/home, voice, and geography in her work, often in art activist contexts. The exhibition “Transcending Bodies” also features her paintings on the theme of Long Covid.
Yasmeen Abdallah is an interdisciplinary artist, working across intersections of sculpture, textiles, painting, and social engagement. Drawing from the personal and the political through elements of memory, empowerment, trauma, resilience, and persistence, her work takes shape in various capacities from minimal gestures to maximal installations. This work is inspired by contemporary culture, history, space, place and personhood. She is interested in the stories told, and secrets kept by imprints and objects that speak to our contemporary culture.
Visiting hours by Appointment. James Howe Gallery is located in the Vaughn Eames Gallery on campus. Campus Map LINK For information and directions call the University at 908-737-KEAN (5326)

Plein Air Painting

The experience of being outdoors and beyond one's self: the exhilaration one feels immersed in a seemingly boundless outdoor environment inspires the paintings below. These works also express the physical act of painting which feels freeing and instinctual outdoors. Many of these plein air paintings were completed during summer in Maine where the sky, grass, water and land all seem to envelop and heal one's body. Illness and limitation fades away as one is absorbed in light and sound.

Pine Point, 2022, acrylic on panel,, 16 x 20 inches

Casco Bay, 20223 oil on canvas,, 24 x 36 inches

Pine Point 1, 2022, acrylic on panel, 4 x 6 inches

Pine Point 4, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 7, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 8 inches

Pine Point 10, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 13, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 14, 2022, acrylic on canvas. 10 x 8 inches

Brooklyn 3, 2022, oil on panel, 6 x 4 inches

Pine Point 2, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 6, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 5, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 8, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 11, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 16, 2022, acrylic on panel, 11 x 14 inches

Brooklyn 1, 2022, oil on panel, 10 x 8 inches

Pine Point 3, 2022, acrylic on panel, 6 x 8 inches

Pine Point 9, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 12, 2022, acrylic on panel, 11 x 14 inches

Pine Point 15, 2022, acrylic on panel, 8 x 10 inches

Pine Point 17, 2022, acrylic on panel, 11 x 14 inches

Camp Ellis, 2022, oil on panel, 14 x 11 inches

Brooklyn 2, 2022, watercolor on homemade paper, 15 x 10 inches

Plein Air Drawings

Paintings (selected)

The paintings below are inspired by my direct experience with Long Covid.
The pandemic has been a life-changing event for the entire planet, myself and my health included.
My body has become an unfamiliar territory with unexpected changes and an unknown outcome.
In these artworks, I use my human body frequently as an expressive vehicle
to communicate my personal feelings, experiences, memories and desires.
In these works I always aims to reveal more than the actual body parts.
In the past, I have used the simplified image of the house/home works in a similar manner.

Blinded, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 24 inches

Emancipation, 2021, oil on canvas, 56 x 30 inches

Disconnect 3, 2022, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches

Revolution, 2017, oil on canvas, 68 x 51 inches (see below)

Uprising, 2017, oil on canvas, 66 x 50 inches (see below)

Unbound 2, 2019, mixed media on paper,
21 x 20 inches

The Storm, 2019. oil and paper on canvas, 57 x 78 inches (see below)

Palm Reading, 2022, acrylic on canvas 24 x 18 inches

In the Dark, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 38 inches

Unbound 4, 2019, mixed media on paper, 24 x 18 inches

Falling Apart, 2022, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 24 inches

Disconnect 2, 2022, oil on canvas, 48 x 24 inches

Homeless, 2017, oil on canvas, 72 x 45 inches

Unbound, 2018, oil and oil stick on canvas, 48 x 39 inches

Familiar Faces, 2019, tempera on paper, 17 x 23 inches

The Door, 2015, he Door, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 47 x 47 inches

Disconnect 4, 2022, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

Bounded 1, 2018, acrylic on panel, 5 x 7 inches

Reaching 5, 2022, oil on canvas, 8 x 12 inches

Herstory, 2019, oil on canvas board, 14 x 11 inches

Disconnect, 2022, acrylic/oil on canvas, 48 x 24 inches

Reaching, 2022, oil/paper on canvas, 44 x 22 inches

Homeless, 2017, oil on canvas, 72 x 45 inches

Reaching 2, 2018, acrylic on paper, 14 x 17 inches

Reaching 4, 2022, oil on canvas, 48 x 24 inches

Take Away, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 50 x 62 inches (see below)

Breathless, 2019, mixed media on paper, 23 x 18 inches

The Door 2, 2016, watercolor on paper, 14 x 10 inches

Reaching 3, 2019, mixed media on paper, 9 x 5 inches

The Storm 2, 2019, oil on canvas, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches

Moving On, 2017, ink on paper, 23 x 35 inches

Revolution, 2017, oil on canvas, 68 x 51 inches

The Storm, 2019. oil and paper on canvas, 57 x 78 inches

Uprising, 2017, oil on canvas, 66 x 50 inches

Gallery Above: House/Home, 2011-2012, small works on paper on paper: watercolor, acrylic, pencil, 4 x 6 inches and 5 x 7 inches

Drawing

The drawings in this section are created as a thought process, with layers of marks compounding to create a single image. The human figure, the house/home, text and abstract marls all combine to form artworks that never begin with an outcome in mind. In this free flowing process my mind is cleared as thoughts and ideas become marks and mark making.

Democracy, 2020, ink on paper, 14 x 11 inches

Democracy 2, 2020, ink on paper, 14 x 11 inches

Brain on Fire 3, 2019, ink on paper, 23 x 17 inches

Socially Engaged

The socially engaged works in this section grapples with contentious environmental, social, and economic issues. In New York City and in Athens Greece, the works are inspired by my responses as an artist to external conditions that seem hopeless and disturbing. The aim of the artwork is to awaken the public and viewer to these issues in the hopes of empowering a sea of human voices to take action and create changes that benefit humanity.

The State of Greece
ΕΝΟΙΚΙΑΖΕΤΑΙ - ΠΩΛΕΙΤΑΙ
FOR RENT – FOR SALE

The words: ΕΝΟΙΚΙΑΖΕΤΑΙ - ΠΩΛΕΙΤΑΙ: FOR RENT - FOR SALE dominate the streets, structures and spaces of Greece, repeating themselves ad nauseam along blocks of once occupied homes and shops, spelling out the current, disastrous Greek state of affairs. It is impossible to ignore these signs, and their menacing forebodings. They point to a co-existent yet sometimes hidden stress, poverty, and lack of a clear future for Greece that are only too obvious to the people of Greece.

Photography

Photography is a staple of my artistic practice. The photos are below are taken in my daily life including glimpses of my frequent commuting journey from New York City to New Jersey for work. Other photos are autobiographical and express myself during various phases of life.