Samson Lux Kleiner is a painter and illustrator. He is 17 years old and from Portland, Oregon. Samson has been painting and drawing for his entire life, identifying himself formally as “an artist” in the last 3-4 years. He is currently enrolled in advanced 2D art and advanced ceramics at Franklin High School and hopes to begin college as an art major in 2024. When he is not creating art, Samson loves to spend time in forests, lakes, and rivers with his closest people and his two dogs, Blue and Mouse.
Artist Statement
I create art that expresses layered emotions and asks the viewer to access their own humanity. I often combine opposite feelings, themes and ideas - curiosity and certainty, fear and elation, seriousness and absurdity - a visual paradox within which the viewer can find a mirror into themselves and empathy for the greater world around them. My work almost always includes elements of our natural environment. Plants, animals and other creatures represent the abundance of life and endless possibility. In my work this vitality is oftentimes juxtaposed with the difficult complexities of our collective,human condition and experiences.