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Born in Ohio, Samuel graduated with a BA in Studio Art from Tennessee State University in Nashville before completing his MFA in Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia, where, in 1999, he was awarded the Presidential Fellowship. Since graduation, Samuel has been an assistant lecturer at the Savannah School of Art and Design and is now an Assistant Professor of Art at Tennessee State University. He has participated in various solo and group shows in Nashville and Savannah, and was recently commissioned to design the cover illustration for the book Over The Bridge. Samuel's work is primarily concerned with the concept of expression and communication; in this light his figurative yet stylized manner allows him to step outside reality whilst maintaining it in his figures.
“Most recently my series of work has become an important vice for my personal expression. The content I choose to tackle, exhibits a range of themes that have become increasingly important to me within the past five years. Themes including love, acceptance of life and death, my role as a black male in this society and my role as a husband and father, are prevalent in my most recent work. I choose to seek subject matter, which is personal to me, but translated in such a way as to invite the viewer into my life without appearing voyeuristic.
I am most comfortable painting in a figurative manner in order to closely relate my subject matter to the human experience. I render the figures in a stylized fashion as to hold the right to step outside reality while maintaining believability. It is important for me to tell stories within the painting medium that are designed to pose questions, voice concerns and present solutions to problems. Using these stories in my paintings allows me to reach people that I would not be able to reach otherwise. I feel that my artwork is most powerful when it speaks to the viewer in such a way that he or she leaves with something that they did not have before they came. My goal is for that something to be an appreciation of my expression." – Samuel Dunson Jr.
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