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Sam Kasirer-Smibert, from Montreal, Quebec. Trained as a painter at Concordia University and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2019. As an oil painter who lives with a disability, he uses his work in abstract figuration and portraiture to share the various ways that the disability affects his perception of the world.

Making large scale paintings usually 5 to 6 feet tall and wide he starts with a thin application of oil paint then covers that with thick layers using a two-handed technique which gives him the chance to throw his whole body into the act of painting. Of note is his use of bright vibrant colours contrasting with darker pigments, and a scumbling technique to raise the murky areas up. Then with a light glazing over the surfaces space is pushed back and pulled forward allowing shapes to emerge during the process. The viewer feels immersed and enveloped by the mood and pictorial space created.

Much of the work is focused on interpretations of a selection of medical imagery - from the earliest known pictures of neurons by 19th century Spanish neurologist Cajal to his own MRIs. Of interest to Kasirer-Smibert is a juxtaposition of these crisp, precise medical images of his own brain on the one hand, and attempts to express in images the way his Ataxia makes him feel in himself. This is often described by Ataxia patients as a feeling of “the brain sloshing inside your skull”. He paints self-portraits to illustrate this. And portraits of other disability artists as well.

Since graduation he has participated in several group shows in artist-run centres and a solo exhibition at a public gallery. The work has been featured in the Vitrine at Tangled Art + Disability in Toronto and he was a participant in a guided residency under the direction of media artist Teresa Ascencao (Luminous Bodies, Gibralter Point 2018).

Other links

English CV | French CV | Acknowledgements | Artsy

Represented by the BBAM! gallery in Montreal.

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