SAM MCKINNISS

Painter Sam McKinniss (b. 1985, Northfield, Minnesota) sources his works from images of recent pop cultural phenomena he finds using Google Image Search. He is inspired by themes of narrative romance, tragedy or comedy, drama, perversion, innocence, and its destruction. Most often his paintings are portraits of celebrities such as movie stars and musicians, while at other times he finds landscapes or animals as suitable subject matter. Discussing his studio practice in a recent interview, McKinniss was quoted, ’[I’m] trying to tell some kind of almost cinematic story, and trying to cast it with characters who suit whatever mood I’m in.’ His recent solo exhibitions were held in Los Angeles and New York. Notably, in 2018, he was included in a major group exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art: The Lure of the Dark: Contemporary Painters Conjure The Night curated by Susan Cross. McKinniss holds an MFA from New York University. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.