Sam Moyer

The first book on painter and sculptor Sam Moyer, best known for her unique practice of combining remnants of stone and natural materials inlaid into painted canvas, creating powerfully expressive works.

Sam Moyer has developed a distinctive language of abstraction, creating paintings, structures, and sculptural objects that draw inspiration from architectural space and natural materials. Recognized for a diverse practice in which she unites found textures and objects in innovative ways, Moyer crafts compelling hybrids, often combining hand-painted fabrics with repurposed marble, slate, and stone that carry textural imperfections reflecting industrial design processes. Her practice has evolved from its more conceptual and process-based origins to address formal and theoretical issues regarding the construct of painting. In all her productions, issues of scale and space remain critical. Moyer is particularly interested in the way architecture functions in tandem with her objects to create dynamic visual experiences.

In this volume, the artist’s first monograph, curators Renaud Proch and Scout Hutchinson contribute the first extended critical essay on the artist’s art and career, identifying key works and exhibitions of the last ten years and detailing her artistic trajectory. Artist and writer Ross Simonini, who has known Moyer for a decade, contributes an in-depth interview with the artist, and noted novelist Kaitlyn Greenidge offers a poetic reading of Moyer’s artwork.

Renaud Proch is the executive and artistic director of Independent Curators International, and from December 2009 to March 2013, he served as the organization’s deputy director. Prior to this, Proch was senior director at the Project in New York and director of MC in Los Angeles. Originally from Switzerland, Proch studied in London and moved to the West Coast of the U.S. in 2001. Ross Simonini is a writer, visual artist, musician, podcaster, and dialogist. Kaitlyn Greenidge is an American writer. She received a 2017 Whiting Award for Fiction for her debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman. Her second book is a historical novel called Libertie (2021).