Sammy Elrom

About the Artist

I've been drawing and painting since I was 5 years old, but never attempted to make it my main profession, even though I sold numerous paintings during the years while pursuing other professional venues. My work is genuine and unique in many ways. I use a vast array of conventional and non-conventional material to draw, paint, and apply on and onto my artwork. I do that by combining, mixing, and applying almost instinctively, in ways that might contradict mainstream painting schools dictates. I'm a non-conformist artist who creates from ideas and virtual scenes that a dream about. I won't wonder out canvasing landscapes and prepare drafts. I draw and paint what I feel at that given time; no corrections, and no changes. I see the scenery and every detail in it in my mind. It’s a visual picture that I feel the urge to move from my mind onto the drawing board.  

Artist's Statement

This is my personal approach to why and how I paint. I mostly tap into my own sources. The process of drawing and painting is detached from what is collectively known as "reasoning". I don’t go through an inspirational stage, and don’t experience out of my body spiritual occurrence when I paint. I rarely draw drafts of what later becomes a painting. Objects, scenes and events, that I witnessed or read about remain seared in my mind, and are later drawn from memory, scenes that I can clearly see it with the eyes of my mind. Rarely will I make significant changes while working on a painting. What I see is what you'll get. I use a variety of materials and improvised means to draw, paint or sculpt; unconventional combinations of paint, crayons, pens, fabric pieces, saw dust, glue, and recycled material. Such artworks I call "sculpainting" because it combines sculpting with painting. I'm fueled by an insatiable imagination and genuine passion, unafraid of how I'm judged by critics. Instead, I put my trust in you, the art lover. Here is what drives my drawing. Sensuality - I see sensuality in every fruit and vegetable and nature surrounding, and I try to expose and emphasize this vibrant sensuality without altering its shape. Time - Modern societies need accurate time measurement to function properly. A few centuries back telling the exact time wasn't as important. In painting, my challenge is how to harness the time volatility, despite the many man-made measuring instruments. How to lay out a 3D physical interpretation of time infinity, an intriguing subject on its own, is my goal. Transforming time notion into something sensible and visible is a challenge that I enjoy immensely. Motion in space - Is easier to convey through sculpture works. Yet even if it’s 2D, a painting can “tell” motion by using depth, colors, shades, and implication of 3D to show an illusion, that lets the human brain to feel this motion through what's captured by the eyes. Surrealism - Which I prefer to call "Uber-reality", is yet another way for me to convey a conceptual approach to life. Humans are not the only ones that can be “bigger than life"; trees, plants, and ordinary objects can too. In a perfect world, perspective and reality are tied together. In my "Uber-reality", the focus might be on one or more objects, each embedded in its own perspective. Topological painting - Figures, certain objects, such as chess pieces, balls, and intricate designs based on topology principles, feature in my drawings. It emphasizes the point that we frequently are unable to see deep enough the intricate, multi-layers fabric of life. The fast-pace modern life style prevents us from taking a break, stay still for a while, and reflect on what this reality means. Time The notion of time that we humans created, was born out of fear of our rather short presence in what we call life. But life doesn’t occur because of time; rather, it is an integral part of it. Life is time. Our ability to perceive and analyze is what sets us apart; perception reflects the highest degree of consciousness. The belief that our human perception is an occurrence without which we couldn’t have advanced is far from the truth. We land a lot of weight on our sense of self; our ability to perceive, feel, and know who we are; and thus, know what to do with our owned own self. Yet we often feel “lost in time”; why is that?. It's just one reason why I am intrigued by what time means, beyond counting its passage, and more so, how to interpret the perceived infinity in my artwork. The paintings in my time series are an attempt to do just that.