Isabel Samaras - Varnish Interview May 2012 by Varnish Fine Art

Isabel Samaras is best known for lush and meticulously painted riffs on Old Masters that send up pop culture and classic fables. Her ribald images are woven with references to classic horror movies, ancient mythology, hip hop music, cheesy television, and childhood fairy tales. Magical realism and the forbidden fantasies of fabled characters present a world where elusive desires become reality and ill-fated journeys turn into enchanted honeymoons. Samaras’ work is a form of visual story telling – tender, witty, and mysterious painted narratives that are classical in technique and pop in content. Comparing her work to postmodern painting, one critic writes,"Samaras has created a truly populist art." Familiar to a broad audience through publications like Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose magazines, as well as the books “Vicious, Delicious & Ambitious: 20th Century Women Artists,” “Pop Surrealism: The Rise of Underground Art,” “Weirdo Deluxe: The Wild World of Pop Surrealism and Lowbrow Art” and her own monograph "On Tender Hooks: The Art of Isabel Samaras," she has also opened her studio to several TV crews and the documentary films including “The Lowdown on Lowbrow" and "Newbrow: Contemporary Underground Art."