Romi Samuels
Romi Samuels was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. |
It was only after immigrating to Canada in later life that she developed a serious interest in creating her own art and that she began to take classes at various art institutions, including the Dundas Valley School of Art, Central Technical College and with Toronto artists Sadko Hadzihasanovic and Suzanne Metz.
Having spent most of her life in South Africa it was natural that she would experience the bittersweet nostalgia of an ex pat and invariably her painting became more “African”, reconnecting her with what she had left behind and helping her bridge the gap between her two worlds.
Amongst Samuels exhibitions are: “Pictures of Africa” which reflect the people’s struggle for survival in post-Apartheid South Africa. In her series “Heaven and earth” her birds are an expressionist metaphor for freedom, fragility and power. Her large canvases, in dramatic black and white, and her bold and energetic strokes embrace the struggle against the forces of nature.
Her series “ The lion, the watch and the wardrobe” focuses primarily on African wildlife. The over-sized paintings are highly textured capturing the feel of animal hides and are reduced to an intense black and white palette applied with a heavy strident hand. More than just the physical form, these animals express primal emotions that we relate to as human beings. The “Wardrobe” includes a collection of small paintings, colorful expressionist images of period fashion accessories which albethey inanimate, also express human qualities and emotions.
More recently, Romi’s painting has taken an even more expressive turn- bolder strokes, distortions, thicker paint and stronger colours. Although her subjects are not always African in nature, she believes she is still trying to follow a tradition of great South African painters such as Irma Stern, Wolf Kibel, and Maggie Laubser, who were strongly influenced by the teachings of the German expressionists.
The words of critic F.L. Alexander reflect Samuels belief that more important than the artist is the viewer and that, a work of art is an emotional experience where in his words ”The lines on paper remain dead matter until they gain life through the eye of the spectator.”
Romi currently works in Toronto where she resides with her husband and three children.