Sam Waldner

Sam Waldner is a mixed-media artist who combines digital photography and acrylic paint to achieve multidimensional pieces of work. The work tends to fall into the abstract/surrealism/erotic genres. Sam has had a need to express himself artistically since childhood and trained at OCA and had a residency at Atelier 
de Séguret in Provence and more recently at Dorland Arts Colony in Temecula, California. He now works as a psychotherapist and addictions counselor in Toronto and uses those pivotal artistic experiences in his practice, and consequentially, uses elements and philosophies from his practice in his artwork. The artwork Sam creates is about transmutability, about being able to adapt and change and not being focused and stuck on any given outcome. Things may not work out exactly the way that you want them to and by being flexible and by being adaptable, the art never needs to be only one thing. It’s in constant flux, it’s on a continuum. The art is the journey, not the destination. Sam will often return to pieces once though completed and will continue adding and subtracting elements to keep the art in a constant state of change.

The art that Sam creates is textured, multidisciplinary, and layered. The pieces require the viewer to look from corner to corner, to examine every slope and spike of paint and colour, as you never know what's hiding beneath. The work combines photographic images with paintings and various other materials, such as beads, mirrors and string, and turns them into three-dimensional works of art. The art is based on the philosophy of integrating Carl Jung's concept of the "anima" as a way to self-individuation. This is Sam's journey of self-discovery and connecting to the collective unconsciousness. His art takes inspiration from his past experience at OCA as a student, in his professional life as a psychotherapist/addictions counsellor and through sci-fi and graphic novels.

The goal that Sam wants to achieve through his work is to continue exploring the concept of Carl Jung’s “anima” through his artwork. This project examines how Waldner’s artistic practice and focus on erotic art allows him to express himself and to let sensitivity, openness, compassion and other unconscious feminine psychological qualities be part of his masculine artistic identity. He also wants to explore the oft negatively perceived female characters in mythology and turning those perceptions on their head by celebrating those women instead of fearing them.