Sam Falls

‘Untitled (Studio floor 1, cement, Los Angeles, CA’)  2012

Coloured pencil on paper, framed

104.1 x 73.7 cm

Sam Falls, like many of his contemporaries born in the 1980’s, focuses on the logical consistency of his works rather than their stylistic coherence. Using a range of techniques, including photography, painting, sculpture, printmaking and video, the artist avoids the limitations of imposed guidelines and constraints. Born in Southern California, he studied painting and drawing for his undergraduate degree then completed an MFA in photography at the Bard program in NYC.

Falls’ first wide-spread acclaim was as a result of his solo photographic exhibition at the New York’s Higher Pictures gallery in 2010. In that same year, the artist then won the Tierney Fellowship: a grant created to support the most talented emerging photographic artists. Since then, he has exhibited prolifically in both the States and in Europe and has upcoming exhibitions at the Fondazione Giuliani in Rome and at the Hammer museum in LA.  His works can also be found as part of the collection in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. 

Although focusing on the medium of photography, Falls has mastered the technique to such an extent that he is also able to make use of the notion of the photographic in other materials. The artist explains that his preferred method enables the consideration of how variables intrinsic to the quality of the photograph, such as light, space and time, can be used to form, shape and develop an image. He is renowned for his eclectic and innovative use of colour: powerful in its juxtaposition to photographic forms it exposes a further dimensionality to his works. Colour and light exposure amalgamate to form a profound and capacious result, explained by the artist as being ‘formed over time, rather than captured in an instant.’