Joe Sampson

Joseph Sampson graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1995. After OCA, he began freelancing as an illustrator while continuing to paint, but painting quickly became his sole occupation. His portfolio is comprised of a variety of scenic imagery and is currently focused on waterscapes. Drawn to shorelines, beaches, lakes, oceans, and streams, Sampson uses water imagery to depict the dichotomy between movement and immobility. A detailed understanding of light’s ability to create colour, shadow, and tone is used to set the mood in each painting. Whether the focus is cold or warm, tranquil or angry, the water’s magnificence strikes the viewer, and an emotional response is evoked. This is due, in part, to the large scale of the work.

From a distance, the viewer is drawn towards what appears to be a photograph. Upon closer inspection, brushstrokes are revealed, and the observer is made aware of the meticulous layers of brushwork, resulting in the illusion that the viewer is still, for an instant, at the water’s edge.