ITHACA REGAINED

GREEK ARTISTS IN NEW YORK

Lucas Samaras

Copyright Lucas Samaras, courtesy of Pace Wildenstein, New York
Photograph by Bill Jacobson

Samaras was born in 1936 in the small town of Kastoria in Macedonia, Greece, moved to New York in 1948, and graduated from Rutgers University College of Arts and Sciences in 1959. He became a U.S. citizen in 1955.

As a sculptor and experimental artist who created a very diverse portfolio, he was a part of Kaprow’s first happening in 1959. Around this time he was creating figures out of plaster and rags. Then, in the 1960s, Samaras began using nails and pins to construct his sculptures. When he began experimenting with photography, he made several studies in light and reflection, and his most famous works were a part of his 1970 series of Autopolaroids, multi-media assemblages in which he often included images of himself. The persistent use of himself as a subject led one critic to remark that "Samaras's almost obsessive self-observation extends past narcissism toward a physical understanding of himself." These photographs of his own anatomy helped to solidify his reputation.

His work is in the collections of many museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.