Samantha Thomas

THE ARTIST’S WAY | Janet Werner and Samantha Thomas

The fundamentals of art – shadows, structures and shapes – are the primary paradigm in which Samantha Thomas views her work. Utilising everyday studio items like raw canvas, thread and acrylic paint, the Texas-born, California-based artist parlays mundane materials into something that defies convention. Lines are a common thread in Thomas’ pieces, but the flickering forms appearing in “Incendiaria” are much more personal than the vibe the inorganic holes and ombré background initially give off. Referencing the act of map-making (cartography), Thomas revisited the process of stitching burnt linen into a canvas painted with acrylic paint after watching her Malibu house be ravished by the 2018 Woolsey Fire. —Ava Gilchrist

Samantha Thomas | Art We’re Obsessed with in March 2024

On a visit to Samantha Thomas’s Los Angeles studio last month, I got a sneak peek at her new body of work—a series of paintings that are wonderfully joyful. In fact, the delightfully refreshing works squash any qualms about the conceptual depth of happy art. Thomas intends these works, which are currently on view in her solo show “Chromoception” at Anat Ebgi, to be read as paintings, but they’re actually made by painstakingly weaving embroidery thread into canvas. Thomas concocted this method by almost turning her canvases into looms. She draws on her longstanding interest in Arte Povera, though the pieces also recall the work of Anni Albers and ancient Andean weaving traditions. The works resemble sliced-up sunsets or otherworldly landscapes—the rainbow mountains of Vinicunca, Peru, were an inspiration. —Casey Lesser

MEET ABSTRACTIONIST PHOENIX SAMANTHA THOMAS

Working equally in pigment and in thread in such a way as to highlight the heft of the canvas in its waves, weaves, and folds as much as the optical patterns in her newly bright color stories, Thomas plays with form and feeling, architecture and affect, depth of space and delight in craft. When her latest exhibition opens this weekend at Anat Ebgi Gallery in Los Angeles, it will be her first in the nearly six years since her home and studio were destroyed in the Woolsey Fire in 2018—and her close-call escape from the inferno with nothing but her dog and the clothes she was wearing. The suite of large, energetic paintings reflect a return to the bright side for the artist, a Phoenix-like path back to joy in both art and nature, that shines out from the deep folds and luminous colors of her abstract topographies. —Shana Nys Dambrot

SAMANTHA THOMAS | UNDER THE SILVER MOON

"As a self-described Moon Mystic, there is no one moon I can single out—but many I would describe as magical. I find it to be most awe inspiring and when it is full, I often find myself chasing it, creating some ritual experience to fully embrace its energetic powers. Lighting a bonfire on the beach, surfing as is rises into the nights sky, or pulling out my telescope to zero in on its violently textured surface are just some ways I honor the phenomenon and harness its energy. It is possibly the closest thing I encounter to a spiritual experience, often asking it questions filled with hope, guidance, and embracing the change that it brings." —Samantha Thomas

The Rebirth of Lesbian Cool | Samantha Thomas

"I was grooming myself to be a professional golfer and was on a golf scholarship at the University of Tulsa, [No. 2 in NCAA Division 1 at the time], when I took a still life drawing class, influenced by my roommate. I quit my scholarship and moved to New York to pursue art. I lasted a winter and immediately moved out west." —Samantha Thomas

Review: Folded, pleated, burned, torn: Artist Samantha Thomas’ tactile webs of intrigue

Samantha Thomas’ fabric wall works at the L.A. gallery Anat Ebgi are steeped in art history. Their folded, stitched and cut surfaces evoke all manner of abstraction, from the sliced canvases of Lucio Fontana to the gestural webs of Jackson Pollack and the evocative volumes of Eva Hesse. —Sharon Mizota

Curated Solutions

Castaño “fell in love with Samantha Thomas’ work” during the opening of the RH Contemporary Art gallery in New York. Her “use of 3D is juxtaposed with the transitional and traditional elements of the room,” explains Claire Eeles, vice president of RH Contract. “Thomas’ work is inspired by the freeways and terrain of Los Angeles’ landscape but also speaks to San Francisco’s ever-changing social landscapes,” adds Eeles. —Alissa Ponchione

Samantha Thomas- Optic Textures

Thomas explores modern urbanism and cities in her series for RH Contemporary Art called “Landscapification.” She distorts and plays with canvas, paint, enamel, sandpaper, and thread to create an abstract topographical map of Los Angeles. —Linda Cleary

5 Emerging Artists From RH Contemporary Art

Thomas explores modern urbanism and cities in her series for RH Contemporary Art called "Landscapification." She distorts and plays with canvas, paint, enamel, sandpaper, and thread to create an abstract topographical map of Los Angeles.  —Raka Sen

Samantha Thomas

Thomas seems to understand that exploring abstraction’s parameters is less about interdicting the possibilities of canvas than marshaling its excesses. —Catherine Damman

A Home Furnishings Visionary Takes On High Culture

Come Nov. 9, in a six-story, 28,000-square-foot industrial building in Chelsea, RH Contemporary Art will open its inaugural exhibition with five concurrent solo shows from Nathan Baker, Toby Christian, Peter Demos, Samantha Thomas and Natasha Wheat, all emerging artists for a debut exhibit. —Alice Gregory

Samantha Thomas

Sewing would be the constant in my practice; since it is so versatile it can act as a binding device, a line, etc. Interestingly, I don’t come from a sewing background— it’s just something I began to do to explore other ways of making line. —Samantha Thomas

Samantha Thomas in conversation with Heather Harmon

April 2024