Sam Falls
Sam Falls
Sam Falls is best known for his large-scale canvases that use water-reactive dry pigments and compositions of plant life. Creating outside, he allows atmospheric components like rain, sunlight and wind to figure in his works, operating as primary sources of the environment and the passage of time. Falls complicates site-specific contexts, activating organic matter beyond its origin and preserving its silhouettes like a kind of fossilization or memento mori.
Falls (b. 1984, San Diego, CA) received an MFA from ICP-Bard and his BA from Reed College. He has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Ohio; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Trento and Rovereto, Italy; The Kitchen, New York; Ballroom Marfa, Texas; and Pomona College Museum of Art, among others. Falls has been included in group exhibitions at the Aspen Art Museum, Colorado; Le Consortium, Dijon; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, England; the Menil Collection, Houston; Museo MADRE, Naples; and the International Center of Photography, New York. His work is in the permanent collections of Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris and San Francisco; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles; Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles; Zabludowicz Collection, London; and the Palm Springs Art Museum. Falls lives and works in Los Angeles.
Sam Falls
Demeter, 2024
Pigment on canvas
19 1/2 x 27 1/2 inches / 49.5 x 69.8 cm
Sam Falls
Demeter, 2024
Detail
Sam Falls
Philomelus, 2024
Detail
Sam Falls
Philomelus, 2024
Pigment on canvas
21 x 30 x 1 inches / 53.3 x 76.2 x 2.5 cm
Installation view
Sam Falls, We Are Dust and Shadow, 2023
moCa Cleveland, OH
Installation view
Sam Falls, We Are Dust and Shadow, 2023
moCa Cleveland, OH
Installation view
Sam Falls, 2023
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
Sam Falls
Bash Bish Falls, 2022
Pigment on canvas
44 x 42 inches / 111.8 x 106.7 cm
Installation view
Sam Falls, 2023
Jessica Silverman, San Francisco
Sam Falls
The Only Place I Know, 2022
Pigment on canvas
91 x 52 inches / 231.1 x 132.1 cm
Sam Falls
Come Together, 2022
Detail
Sam Falls
Come Together, 2022
Scale view
ADDITIONAL WORKS
Sam Falls
Broken Heart, 2022
Glazed ceramic, mortar, grout and brass
35 1/8 x 35 1/8 x 2 inches / 89.2 x 89.2 x 5.1 cm
Sam Falls
Lucusta, 2022
Pigment on canvas
86 x 106 x 1 inches
218.4 x 269.2 x 2.5 cm
Sam Falls
Agrippina and Claudius, 2022
Pigment on canvas
110 x 93 x 1 inches
279.4 x 236.2 x 2.5 cm
Sam Falls
Palaios Perennial (8), 2021
Fujifilm FP-100c45, glazed ceramic with fused glass
12 1/4 x 9 3/4 x 1 1/4 inches
31.1 x 24.8 x 3.2 cm
Sam Falls
Palaios Perennial (6), 2021
Fujifilm FP-100c45, glazed ceramic with fused glass
13 1/2 x 9 3/4 x 1 inches
34.3 x 24.8 x 2.5 cm
Sam Falls
Palaios Perennial (1), 2021
Fujifilm FP-100c45, glazed ceramic with fused glass
Approximately 15 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 2 inches
39.4 x 39.4 x 5.1 cms
Sam Falls
Palaios Perennial (2), 2021
Fujifilm FP-100c45, glazed ceramic with fused glass
Approximately 10 x 10 x 1 3/4 inches
25.4 x 25.4 x 4.4 cms
Sam Falls
Palaios Perennial (3), 2021
Fujifilm FP-100c45, glazed ceramic with fused glass
Approximately 18 x 18 x 2 inches
45.7 x 45.7 x 5.1 cms
Sam Falls
Winter Window 2, 2021
Pigment on canvas
52 x 42 inches
132.1 x 106.7 cm
Sam Falls
Spring to Fall, 2021
Pigment on canvas
96 x 76 inches
243.8 x 193 cm
Sam Falls
The Beginning of the Universe, 2020
Iron, cobalt, zinc, and copper oxides on ceramic
78 3/4 x 53 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches
200 x 136.8 x 17.1 cm
Credit: Ed Mumford
Sam Falls
Night Rain, Morning Mist (Autumn), 2020
Pigment on canvas; 2 parts
Overall: 67 1/8 x 187 3/4 x 1 1/8 inches
170.5 x 476.9 x 2.9 cm
Credit: Ed Mumford
Sam Falls
Untitled (Four Arches), 2019
High Line, New York
Installation view
Credit: Timothy Schenck
Sam Falls
Untitled (Four Arches), 2019
High Line, New York
Installation view
Credit: Timothy Schenck
Sam Falls
Untitled (Four Arches), 2019
High Line, New York
Detail
Credit: Timothy Schenck
Installation view of the 21st Biennale of Sydney at Carriageworks, 2018
Credit: silversalt photography
Installation view of the 21st Biennale of Sydney at Carriageworks, 2018
Credit: silversalt photography
Installation view of the 21st Biennale of Sydney at Carriageworks, 2018
Credit: silversalt photography
Sam Falls
Untitled (Schindler House, 8), 2018
Ceramic
16 x 12 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches
40.6 x 32.4 x 22.2 cm
Sam Falls
Untitled (Schindler House, 8), 2018
Ceramic
16 x 12 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches
40.6 x 32.4 x 22.2 cm
Alternate view
Sam Falls
Untitled (Schindler House, 8), 2018
Ceramic
16 x 12 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches
40.6 x 32.4 x 22.2 cm
Alternate view
Sam Falls
California Flora (National Forest Condensation Wall), 2017-2018
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Installation view
Credit: Brian Forrest
Sam Falls
California Flora (National Forest Condensation Wall), 2017-2018
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Installation view
Credit: Brian Forrest
Sam Falls
California Flora (National Forest Condensation Wall), 2017-2018
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Installation view
Credit: Brian Forrest
Sam Falls
Untitled (Healing pavilion: calm and balance, peaceful sleep, soothes frayed nerves, endocrine system healing, mental organization, stress relief, patience, helps kidney function and fatigue, writers block and truthfulness, overcoming fear, and unconditional love, respectively to stones below), 2015
Gemstone terrazzo, steel
72 x 24 x 72 inches
182.9 x 61 x 182.9 cm
Credit: Stefan Altenbruger
Sam Falls
Untitled (Healing pavilion: calm and balance, peaceful sleep, soothes frayed nerves, endocrine system healing, mental organization, stress relief, patience, helps kidney function and fatigue, writers block and truthfulness, overcoming fear, and unconditional love, respectively to stones below), 2015
Gemstone terrazzo, steel
72 x 24 x 72 inches
182.9 x 61 x 182.9 cm
Alternate View
Credit: Stefan Altenbruger
Sam Falls
Untitled (Healing pavilion: calm and balance, peaceful sleep, soothes frayed nerves, endocrine system healing, mental organization, stress relief, patience, helps kidney function and fatigue, writers block and truthfulness, overcoming fear, and unconditional love, respectively to stones below), 2015
Gemstone terrazzo, steel
72 x 24 x 72 inches
182.9 x 61 x 182.9 cm
Installation view
Credit: Stebastiano Pellion di Persano
PRESS
’I’m After Something More Sublime’: Sam Falls on Making Art Out of Nature to Capture the Nature of Time
VIDEOS
The North Face | Sam Falls x BREWED PROTEIN COLLECTION vol.1
The North Face | Sam Falls x BREWED PROTEIN COLLECTION vol.2
CV
Born 1984 in San Diego, CA
MFA, ICP-Bard, New York, NY, 2010
BA, Reed College, Portland, OR, 2007
Lives and works in New York, NY
Solo exhibitions
2025
Symbiotic Exhibition, Sogetsu Plaza, Tokyo, Japan [forthcoming]
2024
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber x P21, Seoul, South Korea
Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2023
Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Sam Falls, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
Sam Falls, Jessica Silverman, San Francisco, CA
Sam Falls: We Are Dust and Shadow, moCa Cleveland, OH
2022
Mori Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Vienna, Austria
2021
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Project Room: Sam Falls, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
2020
Tongues in Trees, Books in Brooks, Sermons in Stones, Galerie Franco Noero, Turin, Italy
Sam Falls, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
2019
Sam Falls, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Saint Louis, MO
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Kunstverein Frankfurt AM, Frankfurt, Germany
Domain des Etangs, Massignac, France
Capri, Düsseldorf, DE
Antinori, Chianti Classico Winery, San Casciano Val di Pesa, Florence, Italy
2018
Reconnecting With The World: About The Poetic In Elements and Materials, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
Sam Falls, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad, Switzerland
Hammer Projects: Sam Falls, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Sam Falls: Nature is the New Minimalism, Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporaneo di Trento e Rovereto, Trento, Italy
2017
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, New York, NY
sine sole sileo, Galleria Franco Noero, Torino, Italy
2016
Sam Falls, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Kastro, Antiparos, Greece
Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK and Sarvisalo, Finland
2015
Septemer Spring, The Kitchen, New York, NY
Sam Falls, Giuliani Foundation, Rome, Italy
Sam Falls, Ballroom Marfa, Mara, TX
Galleria Franco Noero, Torino, Italy
2014
Sam Falls, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK and Sarvisalo, Florida
Sam Falls, Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Project Series 49: Sam Falls, Pomona College Museum of Art, Pomona, CA
Sam Falls: Light over Time, Public Art Fund, New York, NY
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Sam Falls, Karma, New York, NY
2013
Sam Falls, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Sam Falls, Balice Hertling, Paris, France
Sam Falls, T293, Rome, Italy
Topanga, Karma, Amagansett, NY
Final Forever, Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, CA
Firehouse Gallery, Burlington, VT
Ribordy Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
2012
Sam Falls, American Contemporary, New York, NY
Sam Falls, China Art Objects, Los Angeles, CA
Four Seasons Forever, Printed Matter, New York, NY
Sam Falls, Marta Cervera, Madrid, Spain
Sam Falls, M+B, Los Angeles, CA
Sam Falls, Karma Books, New York, NY
Luce Gallery, Turin, Italy
2011
Sam Falls, West Street Gallery, New York, NY
Everything Keeps Being Nothing, Higher Pictures, New York, NY
Group exhibitions
2024
303 Gallery: 40 Years, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
Marfa Invitational, Marfa, TX
I Feel The Earth Whisper, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, DE
Science/Fiction – A non-history of Plants, MEP I Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
Les Fleurs d’Yves Saint Laurent, Musée Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, France
2023
Melencolia, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Maag Areal, Zurich
World Classroom: Contemporary Art through School Subjects, Mori Museum, Tokyo
2021
Galerie Eva Presenhuber at 75 Faubourg, Paris, France
A Month Away, Galerie Eve Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
2020
Resonance, Fondation Opale, Lens, Switzerland
Color Field, The University of Houston, TX
All in One, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
Where the Horizon Begins, Galerie Kraemer / Chambre a Part, Paris, France
Alien Landscape, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
2019
La Lumière des Mondes, Domain des Etangs, Massignac, France
I will be Dead, König, London, UK
En Plein Air, The High Line, New York, NY
Color Field, Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AR
35 Years, 303 Gallery, New York, NY
Back to the Future, Mai Mano House, Budapest, Hungary
2018
Sculpture Garden Biennale, Parc des Eaux-Vives Genève, Switzerland
You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Back to the Future, Foam, Photography Museum Amsterdam, Netherlands
Jay DeFeo: The Ripple Effect, Le Consortium, Dijon, France
2017
The Sun Placed In The Abyss, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
Concrete Island, Venus, Los Angeles, CA
ICA Boston, Boston, MA
2016
Wasteland, Mona Bismark American Center, Paris, France
Another Minimalism, Art after California Light and Space, Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, UK
2015
Another Minimalism: Art after California Light and Space, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
Apparition: Frottages and Rubbings from 1895 to Now, Hammer Musuem, co-organized by the Menil Collection, Houston, Los Angeles, CA
Works on paper, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
WORKS BY, Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich, Switzerland
2014
The Material Image, curated by Debra Singer, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
Morning and Evening Asylum, Tanya Leighton Berlin/ Off Vendome, Dusseldorf, Germany
Galleria Franco Noero, Torino, Italy
Ethan Cook / Sam Falls / Emanuel Röhss / Tris Vonna-Michell, T293-in-residence, Sadie Coles, London, UK Flash Art, New York, NY
SUPERPOSITION: Equilibrium & Engagement, Biennale of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Per Forming a collection #1, Madre Museum, Naples, Italy
2013
Metro Pictures, New York, NY
Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
T293, Naples, Italy
Galerie Balice Hertling, New York, NY
Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, NY
Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY
A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
Anamericana, Depart Foundation, American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
SQUAT BEIRUT, in collaboration with Balice Hertling and Nilufar Gallery at Metropolitan Art Society (MAS), Beirut, Lebanon
Balice Hertling, Paris, France
2012
Nicole Klagsburn, New York, NY
Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, CA
International Art Objects, Los Angeles, CA
11 Rivington, New York, NY
Modern Collections, London, UK
Grimm Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Pedro Cera Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
Sam Falls/N. Dash, Twig Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2011
Karma, White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO
Sam Falls/Nick Van Woert, Death Valley, Cleopatra’s, Brooklyn, NY
Painted Pictures, curated by Arthur Ou, Blackston Gallery, New York, NY
Somewhere to Go, OHWOW, Los Angeles, CA
Wax Apple, Bodgea, Philadelphia, PA
M+B Gallery, curated by Sam Falls and Matt Moravec, Los Angeles, CA
High Desert Test Sites, curated by Andrea Zittel, Joshua Tree, CA
2010
Sam Falls/Daniel Turner, Pauline’s, Brooklyn, NY
50 Artists curated by Dean Daderko, Higher Pictures, New York, NY
Capricious Select, Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden
SRAUNUS, Vilinus, Lithuania
New Genre Pictures, Flanders Gallery, Raleigh, NC
Magazine Group Show, 107 Shaw Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
New Photography, Woodstock Center for Photography, Woodstock, NY
Lower East Side Gallery, New York, NY
Catalogues and Monographs
2018
Dirié, Clément. Sam Falls. JRP | Ringier, 2018.
2017
Falls, Sam and Lumi Tan. September Spring. Printed Matter Inc., New York, NY, 2017.
2016
Copelin, Laura. Sam Falls. Ballroom Marfa, 2016.
Scheffer, James Michael and Sam Falls. Sam Falls: Resonance. Mousse Magazine, Italy, 2016.
2015
Pagel, David. Sam Falls: Ferns and Palms. Pomona College Museum of Art, CA, 2015.
Trembley, Nicolas. Four Seasons Forever. Flash Art, New York, NY, 2015.
Plein Air. Karma Books, New York, NY, 2015.
2014
Death Sequence. Karma Books, New York, NY, 2014.
Rocks Waves. Karma Books, New York, NY, 2014.
2013
Sam Falls: Studio / Space / Print / Time. Printed Matter Inc., New York, NY, 2013.
2012
Sam Falls: Light Over Time. Gottlund, Verlag, Kuztown, PA, 2012.
Falls, Sam. Sam Falls: Problems with Decomposition, Mörel Books, London, UK, 2012.
Life Size. Karma Books, New York, NY, 2012.
2011
Sam Falls: Visible Library. Layflat, Somerville, MA, 2011.
Val Verde. Karma, New York, NY, 2011.
Selected Press
2023
Hooper, Mark. “The Transience of Beauty*.” Upstate Diary. No. 16, Spring 2023.
Dafoe, Taylor. “’I’m After Something More Sublime’: Sam Falls on Making Art Out of Nature to Capture the Nature of Time.” Artnet news. February 2, 2023.
2021
Rea, Naomi. “Studio Visit: Artist Sam Falls on Working Alone in the Woods at Night, and Why He Doesn’t Like Art That’s Easily Described.” Artnet news. April 27, 2021.
2019
Gerlis, Melanie. “How do art fairs contribute to the climate crisis?” Financial Times. June 6, 2019.
Severin, Tillmann. “Sam Falls at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich.” Mousse. April 21, 2019.
2018
Priovano, Stefano. “Sam Falls’ first institutional exhibition in Europe is an elegiac statement.” Conceptual Fine Arts. March 27, 2018.
Simmons, William J. “Nature as Studio: Sam Falls Revels in the Medium of Chance.” Cultured. November 29, 2018.
2017
Rhodes, David. “Sam Falls.” The Brooklyn Rail. November 2017.
2015
Cotter, Holland. “Review: ‘September Spring,’ a Multimedia Memorial.” The New York Times. September 17, 2015.
Selected Museum and Public Collections
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
Collection Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark
Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France
Fondazione Giuliani, Rome, Italy
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Palm Springs Art Museum, CA
Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA
Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK