San Juan Ascension II
Sam Scott
Created : 1989
Donated : 1998
Medium : Painting/Acrylic
Dimensions: 82.5 inx68.5 in
Located: 3rd Floor Rotunda
San Juan Ascension II (1989)
Oil on canvas
Sam Scott (b. 1940)
Santa Fe
Gift of the artist
Capitol Art Collection, Capitol Art Foundation
Sam Scott considers himself a nature painter. He explains,
“What interests me is the idea of using nature as source—with a lyric voice that is essentially a celebratory voice. I view painting as an act of reparation, an act of giving back to life.”
Scott paints with a fervency of passion for what he sees as the essence of energy and life matter. His works evoke the primacy of thought and emotion, rather than representational images. His language of symbols is derived from the land, memory and consciousness—both personal and universal.
Painting for over fifty years, Scott has created his own lyrical expressionism which binds him to his ability to see beyond a sensory perception. Scott says,
“If you are going to speak in a language of abstraction, then you are choosing to speak in a language of simultaneous realities. That’s the joy and the richness of it. It’s like any poem—there is a combination of circumstances. There is mystery: the rarity of a violet meeting a burnt sienna—lyrical and rare color.”
Although Scott has traveled the world, he has called Santa Fe home for over thirty years. He has taught, lectured, and exhibited extensively for over forty years. His works are in major public and private collections worldwide, including Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Denver, New York, Spain, Mexico and France.
It continues to be the mission of the Capitol Art Foundation to build a permanent collection of contemporary art by artists of New Mexico that is representative of New Mexico’s rich and diverse cultural and artistic traditions.
