Preview & Studio Visit: “Into the Woodz” – Isabel Samaras

Isabel Samaras’ solo show “Into the Woods”, opens at The Shooting Gallery in San Francisco this Saturday night, May 9th at 7 p.m.

Following her recent book “On Tender Hooks” a pictorial collection of her work to date, “Into the Woods” serves as a launching pad, a departure from her earlier work of delightful paintings mostly featuring “modern pop-demi-gods and godesses” the likes of Frankenstein or pop icons like Pee Wee Herman.

“Into the Woods” is cast with characters plucked from the fairy tales of our childhoods. Although they play themselves, they following an altogether different plot line. Sub-plots and imagined sequels to the main event. The porrige may have already gone cold, the beds have all been slept in but what happens next? And what about that funny little dynamic between Goldilocks and Baby Bear, hm? Other paintings playfully hint at the lives of the secondary woodland characters ever so masterfully rendered – the hundreds of quills, soft fluffy feathers and fur make you want to reach out and pet the canvas. Samaras’ inherent sense of humor is evidenced in paintings of squirrels and owls regally sporting dookie rope chains or the group of Mocking birds perched on a boombox, hinting back to her time on the East Coast in the early 80’s during Rap music’s more innocent era.

Isabel was kind enough to show us around her studio and some of her works in progress during our visit.
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“Wize” detail – oil on panel, work in progress