Sam Shaffer is a painter working in a range of media and approaches to abstract imagery and subtle narratives. He is also a prolific maker of drawings and works on paper, which constitute a crucial element in the artist’s studio practice in a broader sense. Featuring scores upon scores of character and setting studies, standalone drawings, and other recent works on paper, Real Life in a Fake World is both an acknowledgment of the fundamentality of these works for Shaffer, and a vibrant celebration of their dreamy mystery and gestural vitality.

Working in mostly fluid materials such as watercolor, ink, and gouache in his drawings and works on paper, Shaffer creates abstract visions of figures, animals, hybrid beings, and features of the natural world, often in manners sympathetically inflected to lure viewers into attributing narratives to their environs. They perceive bizarre birds and more bizarre bird-people, various seafaring vessels and vast open seas, salty seafarers and mythical creatures, blazing suns and luminous starbursts, and much besides. Shaffer’s works harbor a sense of freedom and flow as well as focus, yielding imagery suggestive of meandering dreams and moments of startling urgency. For the artist, it all comes down to a process of exploration and reiteration, devotion and discovery. In Shaffer’s own words:

“My process is both random and deliberate. My aim is always to discover new worlds and find new ways to explore. It’s all about looking into myself and out into the world to see what things may be, what secrets they might hold, and to find a way forward.”

— Exhibition text by Paul D’Agostino, Ph.D.

Sam Shaffer lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and holds an MFA in Printmaking from Pratt Institute. His mixed media paintings and works on paper have been featured in numerous exhibitions regionally and nationally, including at M. David & Co. Gallery (Brooklyn, NY); Steven Harvey Fine Art (New York, NY); Lore Degenstein Gallery (Susquehanna University, PA); Center for Contemporary Art (NJ); Woodmere Museum (Philadelphia, PA); Boca Raton Museum of Art (FL); and Topaz Gallery (Queens, NY), among others. This is the artist’s first solo show in New York City.

Website: www.sshafferart.com

Instagram: @sam_shaffer_