We recently connected with Samantha Salzinger and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Samantha thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

Going from idea to execution for an artist is the name of the game, it’s making the imagination tangible. My process for creating a work of art is a marriage of form and content. To start, it is important that I stay focused on the process, more than the product. Staying present and engaging with the tools I am working with; lenses, lighting, camera angles and the formal construction of the still life will in effect create the meaning of the work. Once in the flow of this process, it is shocking how I will lose all sense of time and that’s when I know I’m in the zone. It is through years of practice, the mastering of my materials with a bit of serendipity, that the magic happens.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your

background and context?

Being an artist is the core of who I am, it is an instinct and an obsession that I could not escape if I wanted to. I am most known for producing large scale landscape dioramas that I use for making photographs, videos and short films. The idea behind the fabricated image is to challenge the traditional view of the camera as an objective witness. Where most photographs conceal their means of production, the tableau drives a tension between the real and the artificial which disrupts its transparency. My past works consist of fictitious lands from lush forests to desolate outer space scenes. I’m working on a new series that takes the idea of simulation a bit further, it’s still in the early stages, so stay tuned! Achievements I’m proud of include, attaining an M.F.A. degree from Yale University, where I had the privilege to study with influential artists such as Gregory Crewdson and James Casebere. Additional achievements are, winning the South Florida Cultural Consortium three times, exhibiting in prestigious galleries and museums and having my work in renowned permanent art collections, among them, the Perez Museum here in south Florida.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative?

In addition to being an artist, I am also a professor. I love working with students and sharing my knowledge and experience. It is my goal to teach students the difference between looking and seeing. Looking is passive and mechanical but seeing takes effort, it is focused and open. It’s easy to bypass something mundane but when you can “see” past its banality, through new eyes, the ordinary can become extraordinary (like Andy Warhol’s soup cans). In my classes we dissect art and films from both a technical and philosophical standpoint. Watching a student develop their ideas and expand their understanding of art is a very rewarding experience that I feel fortunate to have.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

When I think of my goals as an artist, typically it’s about my creative direction, how to use my skills to reinterpret my experience of the world in a way that connects with others. Art is not just a dusty old painting in a museum or something to hang over a couch. Art is a visual language that we engage with every day whether we realize it or not. Our entire world is dominated with images – colors, fonts, and designs. Art is often undervalued in society but in actuality, understanding visual language and how to manipulate it, is very powerful. With that said, successful art is not a mere work of self-expression and beauty but a mirror of the times. Throughout history art has been a reflection of the era and a means of mass communication – master works understand this concept. It is my goal to create works that connect with the deeper qualities of being human while living in this unique advancing conceptual age. With the onset of artificial intelligence and the metaverse, I think artists will have a unique purpose in this new world and it is my goal to produce relevant, provocative work to share.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.samanthasalzinger.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthasalzinger/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samantha.salzinger/