Sam Tripodi’s FUTURE PROOF: Newest Exhibition in The Jones Institute’s Emerging Artists’ Series 

“Sam appears to be skeptical of intention, grand design and preconception. Instead we get drawing and painting that behaves like sculpture. What we are seeing are discoveries of subjects in ways that show us their weight and nature and object-ness. Sam is giving herself permission to pursue works that have differences in look and differences in identifiable appearance. Sam trusts—because she’s the one doing the discovering, choosing the materials and directions to be used—that the work will be identifiably hers,” said Anne Harris, Painter and Associate Professor, Painting and Drawing Department, School of the Art Institute Chicago

Consistently pushing boundaries, FUTURE PROOF features works on paper with graphite and beeswax, others with oil paint or gold leaf, along with paintings on panels and others on canvas. “FUTURE PROOF is a concept familiar to the tech world—designing systems that will last—that can be applied to the natural world where we must begin to build and use resources that will not harm our delicate environment. In my work I try to allow for the confusion and connection between disparate concepts existing in our systems of living,” added the Artist. 

Born in Los Angeles, Sam was raised in Florida where her father was recruited to lead Disney’s new Imagineering Studio. After graduating from Art Center College of Design, she became a sought-after designer in the technology industry. “During my career, I was focused on de

signing products that immediately telegraphed their purpose to an audience. Successful tech designs must work on two levels: one is to contain what’s inside and the other is to instantaneously communicate how it works, that is, its meaning,” continued Sam. “As an artist, purpose is not served by the object, but brought to the art by the observer.” 

“Florida, the beauty, solace and threat of its swamps are a motif in much of the work featured in FUTURE PROOF,” adds Matt Dick, Gallery Director of The Jones Institute. “I find Sam’s work challenges us to recognize—and perhaps rebel against—how we are threatening our environment and hints to the danger that this may cause.”

An implicit theme throughout FUTURE PROOF relates to the intellectual and physical capital spent on the delivery of unremarkable and mundane consumer products—and whether as the consumers of these products we might be implicated in the transaction…or at least absent in the revolt. 

Subverting perspective is another aspect of Sam’s work. From her imperfect renderings of packages using graphite and gold leaf, she illustrates both delicacy of the hand made and the beauty of a well designed functional object while also challenging us to acknowledge what is squandered for functional convenience. 

FUTURE PROOF is the first solo gallery exhibition of Sam Tripodi’s work in San Francisco. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 13, 2024 at 1275 Minnesota Street. RSVP info@thejonesinstitute.com 

For additional photographs or appointments, please contact info@thejonesinstitute.com 

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