SAM MCKINNISS

Early Years

Born in Northfield, Minnesota in 1985, Sam McKinniss grew up in Hartford County, Connecticut, where his father was a local reverend. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art in 2005, received a BFA in painting from the Hartford Art School in 2007, and completed his MFA at New York University’s Steinhardt School in 2013. McKinniss lives and works in New York City and Kent, Connecticut.

Sam McKinniss Artworks

McKinniss’s art practice is defined by his expressive, figurative oil paintings that reinterpret found images from Google, album covers, paparazzi shots, and art history, elevating them to the status of contemporary icons. His work is rooted in the tradition of postmodern appropriation, blending nostalgia, desire, and irony.

Pop Culture and Celebrity Portraits

McKinniss is renowned for his portraits of pop culture icons, such as Diana, Princess of Wales, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and Lorde. His 2017 portrait of Lorde became the cover art for her album Melodrama, gaining international attention and praise from NME, Billboard, and Paste. He often paints from photographs and online images, capturing the allure and ambiguity of fame in the digital era.

Art Historical References and Still Lifes

Alongside celebrity portraits, McKinniss draws inspiration from 19th-century still life painter Henri Fantin-Latour, reimagining floral arrangements in heightened colour and contrast. Works like White Roses in a Short Glass (after Fantin-Latour) demonstrate his ability to blend historical references with contemporary sensibility.

Narrative and Theatricality

McKinniss’s paintings frequently incorporate scenes from film, television, and Americana, including portraits of characters from Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His solo exhibitions, such as Country Western (Almine Rech, London, 2021) and The Perfect Tense (David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, 2025), showcase his interest in the theatrical, the nostalgic, and the uncanny.

Select Awards and Accolades

• New Boston Fund Individual Artist Fellowship, Greater Hartford Arts Council (2009)
• GO! Emerging Artist Contest Winner, Real Art Ways, Hartford (2008)
• Artist Grant and Residency, Vermont Studio Center (2007)
• Rudolph Zallinger Painting Prize, Hartford Art School (2007)

Exhibitions

Sam McKinniss has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at important galleries and institutions. Below is a selection of important exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions

• The Perfect Tense, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2025)
• Misery, Almine Rech, Paris (2022)
• Mischief, JTT, New York (2022)
• Country Western, Almine Rech, London (2021)
• Neverland, Almine Rech, Brussels (2019)
• Egyptian Violet, Team Gallery, New York (2016)

Group Exhibitions

• Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, SFMOMA, San Francisco (2024–2025)
• Day for Night: New American Realism, Palazzo Barberini, Rome (2024)
• Friends & Lovers, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2023–2024)
• The Lure of the Dark: Contemporary Painters Conjure The Night, MASS MoCA, North Adams (2018)

McKinniss’s works are held in the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford; Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown; and the Contemporary Art Foundation, Tokyo.

Sam Mckinniss FAQs

Ocula | 2025