Beacon artist explores dichotomies
Many locals know that Evan Samuelson often paints in his second-floor studio on the eastern end of Main Street in Beacon, where he steps back from the works-in-progress to gain perspective, then pounces in to add details.
As his dog, Sienna, hangs out the window, following the action, pedestrians stare. The panorama below is close enough that the artist can converse with passersby.
“All I want to do is paint,” says Samuelson, who had his first solo show at Newburgh’s Grit Works Gallery in 2021. “There’s a long game here. I’m not creating for me, yet. I have to build technique and that will take time. You want perfection but can’t achieve it. That’s the paradox.”
The artist, who is 38, is a fan of Rousseau, Kierkegaard and John Muir. He tries to apply their educational philosophies at the alternative Green Chimneys School in Brewster, where he teaches physical education.
This summer, Samuelson hung 11 paintings in Hakan Chocolatier on Main Street. On Second Saturday (Oct. 12), he will replace them with a crop of seasonal fare with ambiguous faces. Torsos and collarbones are visible, but the visage in one untitled work resembles a gnarled peach pit. Another painting portrays a metallic dress and shiny faux face.
The pre-Halloween swap, he says, reflects dichotomies like “masculine-feminine, yin-yang, sun-moon, life and death, heaven and hell. There’s a wide spectrum between the extreme poles that I want to explore.”
There’s room for improvement in his rendering of skin color, Samuelson says. And he’s started toting around a portable easel for plein air work; one budding project conveys the grand view at Boscobel in Philipstown.
“I’m just going for something raw that underlies everything and connects us all,” he says. “Many artists seek beauty, but the darker world asks us to think about what ideal beauty is. Maybe it’s somewhere in the middle.”