Splinters of paint, varying in breadth and structure, take up purposeful positioning on a canvas to cumulate a perceptible image. Never quite appearing fully contoured, the deliberate ambiguity apportions a chasm for the viewer to occupy and ultimately designate their own meaning. The New York native artist, Kai Samuels-Davis, labors in illustrating the secluded episodes of introspection that go unwitnessed by others.
The subjects are often humans but also include landscapes and an assortment of objects. The space something or someone occupies is demonstrated beautifully and intellectually in the style of Samuels-Davis. There are no explicit indications of delineation which results in a fragmented approach that can be observed as some kind of halo of presence, an unseen companion that becomes artfully materialized by the dispersion of paint strokes extending from the original subject’s borders of existence.
As a master of abstraction, the artist is extremely dexterous in construing poignant visions using oil paint on panels and wood. A dichotomy becomes established in the coalescence of recognizable representation and a degree of disorder, it is here that Samuels-Davis emulates the dimensionality of complex thought. As you spend time and engage with his illustrious paintings, you come to find yourself in the depths of a rather ruminative inner dialogue.
