Lucas Samaras

Lucas Samaras’s boundary-pushing practice, spanning photography, sculpture, painting and installation, exemplified his innovative use of materials and his deep exploration of identity, the body and psyche.

Born in 1936 in Greece, Samaras immigrated to the United States in 1948, where he attended Rutgers University and later Columbia University. He became associated with the avant-garde ‘Happenings’ movement, collaborating with artists like Allan Kaprow and Claes Oldenburg. From the very beginning of his career, Samaras was marked by an intense interest in personal expression and self-investigation by painting self-portraits. His vibrant pastels often featured intense colours and complex, layered compositions, demonstrating his lifelong fascination with the process of metamorphosis and self-exploration.

In the 1960s, Saramas shifted focus toward creating series of assemblage reliefs and box constructions affixed with nails, beads, coloured threads, mirrors, pins and other everyday objects. These sculptures evoked both beauty and discomfort — they are visually striking, creating a startling juxtaposition of image, form and material.

In 1969 Samaras began to explore photography, experimenting with a Polaroid 360 camera for its immediacy. The artist further his investigation in this medium with the Polaroid SX-70 in 1973. Using Polaroid instant film, Samaras manipulated the surface of the photographs while they were still developing, distorting and warping his own image into surreal, almost painterly abstractions. These ‘photo transformations’ remain some of his most iconic works, where the line between photography and painting was blurred, allowing him to delve into the themes of identity, self-perception, and transformation.

Lucas Samaras died in 2024, aged 87. Throughout his career, Samaras has exhibited widely and internationally. His works belong in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate in London, and other major institutions.