Islands and Orifices
Sam Kasirer-Smibert

Sam Kasirer-Smibert’s large painterly works are produced through a process influenced by what he terms a “dis/ability”, one that results in  an experience of dislocation. In response to this experience, Kasirer-Smibert involves his whole body in the act of painting, producing what he describes as maps of energy and communication.

“My work addresses issues of discomfort, fragmenting visual space in ways that reflect my perception of reality and communicate my private experience. For me, every approach to the canvas is an effort to place my vision of the world before the eyes of an able-bodied spectator.

I will sometimes employ, for example, bright colours and a light glaze to generate a vibratory effect or visual disturbance that enables viewers to experience, firsthand, my own sense of dislocation and confusion. Colour is also used to draw some spaces forward and push others back. The surface, I then notice, seems to be breathing slowly, as if in counterpoint to the effort and strain I am feeling—arms outstretched—in my attempt to map the surface with my body.”

Sam Kasirer is currently studying painting and drawing at Concordia University, and held his first solo painting show, Atro Versiamo,  in November of 2015 at the Victoria Hall Art Gallery. He has been featured in many group exhibitions in Montreal and completed an artist residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point.

For more information the artist can be contacted via: samkasire@gmail.com