Sam McKinniss

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Sam McKinniss (born 1985) is an American painter based in Brooklyn, known for his abstract and figurative postmodern work. He was born in Northfield, Minnesota, and grew up in Connecticut. He studied at the Glasgow School of Art in 2005, earned a BFA in painting from Hartford Art School in 2007, and completed an MFA at New York University’s Steinhardt School in 2013.

McKinniss has shown his art in galleries and museums since 2005. His first solo show in New York, Black Leather Sectional, opened at Joe Sheftel Gallery in May 2015, and his first solo show in Los Angeles, Dear Metal Thing, followed at Team Bungalow in June 2015. Egyptian Violet was presented at Team Gallery in New York in October 2016. He also appeared at Art Basel in Miami in 2015.

In his figurative paintings, McKinniss works from photographs, found images, and pictures he takes himself. His subjects include reclining male nudes, images from popular culture, and floral still lifes. He develops a symbolist vocabulary for contemporary figurative painting and often sources material from online image searches. He has created many works inspired by 19th-century still lifes by Henri Fantin-Latour, such as White Roses in a Short Glass (after Fantin-Latour), noted for its strong color contrasts.

McKinniss has also explored themes like “men in repose” for Adult magazine and painted a portrait of Lorde that became the cover art for her 2017 album Melodrama. The cover was recognized by NME as one of the best album covers of the 21st century so far and received praise from Billboard, Paste, and Fuse.