STATEMENT / BIO
“I’ve been working for many years on creating my own visual language in form and color to allow me to tell stories. My goal is not so different from ancient and indigenous artists. The visual representations stem from my personal, social, and political beliefs. I consider myself a visual memoirist, retelling in shapes and in lines that are not typical or straight, what I have heard and seen.”
I was influenced by the color “red” at a very early age, and after seeing the film Red Balloon, it became a touchstone for me in my life and work. Color influences the most marvelous and the most mundane elements of life. My love and use of color has been incorporated in both my photography and my painting.
I was given my first camera when I was seven. A Kodak Instamatic, which initiated my love of photography. I slowly began to understand what photography opened up for me (and ultimately for viewers). However, I subsequently learned that the gift of my first camera was strategic rather than artistic! It was to stop me from drawing on our walls! While my enthusiasm as an adolescent for photography grew, my drawing everywhere did not diminish!
My mother was a sculptor, and my father produced films. This parenting led to museum and gallery attendance at an early age, as well as listening to grown-up conversations about creativity. In my teens, we moved to Los Angeles, and those creative conversations were an even more potent part of my life. At Otis-Parsons in LA, I dual-majored in photography and painting, and studied with Lita Albuquerque, Betty Saar, Robin Vacarino, Emerson Wolfer and Donald Blumberg.
After tumultuous adventures in art school, I landed a job on the film “Aurora” starring Sophia Loren, and I worked under art director Guido Josia. From that experience on, the creative influences in my life have come from looking at art in ever shape and form wherever I might be, and by listening carefully to people for whom creativity is central to their lives in LA, New York, Hawaii. Ashland, Oregon and, since 2009, in Sweden.
Sam Gimbel
1962: Born New York City
1971: Moved to Los Angeles
1980/1984: Otis Parsons School of Art, studied with Lita Albuquerque, Bettye Saar, and Emerson Wolfer. BFA in painting and photography.
1984: Summer in Italy, assisting art director, Guido Josia, on the film Aurora, starring Sophia Loren.
1984/1989: Living/working in Los Angeles.
1985: First gallery exhibition, Jill Youngblood Gallery, Los Angeles
1989/1997: Living/working in Ahualoa, Hawaii
1997/1999: Living/working in Waimea, Hawaii
1999/2009: Living/working in Ashland Oregon
2009/present: Living/working in Kungsbacka, Sweden
Solo and Group Exhibitions
2025 Gallery 53 Kungsbacka Konstförening solo show Kungsbacka Sweden
2023 Phillips auction house NYC private collection sales
2021/2019/2018/2017: Group exhibitions at Spaziocima Gallery, Rome
2014: Solo exhibition, Gallery Art Veritas, Onsala, Sweden
2013/2012/2011/2010: Galerie Scandinavia, Goteborg, Sweden
2008/2007/2006: Multiple solo and group exhibitions at GG Gallery, Ashland, Oregon
2004/2003/2002/2000: Multiple group exhibitions, Sylvia White Gallery, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York
2001/2000: Group exhibitions, Davis & Cline Gallery, Ashland, Oregon
1999: Group exhibition, Parag Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
1999: Solo exhibition, Merrimans Gallery, Waimea, Hawaii
1998/1995: Solo exhibitions, Mauna Lani Gallery, Kohala, Hawaii
1997: Hawaii Invitational Exhibition, Hilo, Hawaii, Gold Award
1997: Group exhibition, Pierre Le Franc Gallerie. Paris
1997/1996/1995: Group exhibitions, Rogal Gallery, New York
1996: Group exhibition, Hoff Gallery, Amsterdam
1995: Hawaii Invitational Exhibition, Hilo, Hawaii, Gold Award – Best in Show
1995/1990/1989: Group exhibitions, Jill Youngblood Gallery, Los Angeles
1994: Group exhibition, LA ART, New York
1988: Emerging Artists exhibition, LA County Museum of Art, Los Angeles