Pacific Northwest College of Art    Portland, OR

Samantha Wall: Partially Severed

Partially Severed, the most recent show by PNCA alumna Samantha Wall, MFA VS ’11, just closed in PNCA’s MFA Gallery Central to glowing reviews. Jeff Jahn, of PORT, wrote that Wall was the “the single most complete PNCA grad I’ve encountered… a seasoned pro who boasts a Joan Mitchell Award.” He went on to add, “She deserves a studio visit from most of the gallerists and curators in town.”

“Clarion Call,” graphite and sumi ink on paper, by Samantha Wall. Image courtesy of artist.

This most recent show, Wall writes in her artist statement, “is a series of drawings that uses the female body as a site of struggle between subjective narrative and representations of women in Asian horror cinema. The drawings are an attempt to reconcile two opposing cultural identities.”

Wall is no amateur when it comes to large-scape, introspective drawings. Her careful eye and masterful hand are everywhere obvious in this most recent collection, which, for the first time, combines graphite marks on paper with looser, wilder sumi ink washes. Wall’s 2011 Visual Studies thesis work explored emotions of pride, humiliation, and shame, through drawings of personal wrestling matches. “Private encounters within the self are revealed within these moments of hyper awareness,” Wall wrote. Her thesis work helped push Wall towards the prestigious 2011 Joan Mitchell Award. She is also the recipient of a 2012 Oregon Arts Commission Professional Development Grant.

You can follow Wall’s work on her portfolio and on her Tumblr.

Above, “Furies,” graphite and charcoal on paper, by Samantha Wall; Below, “Stranger,” graphite and sumi ink on paper, by Samantha Wall. Images courtesy of artist.

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