A detailed portrait drawing of a young person with long dark hair, shown in profile with their hand raised near their face in a contemplative gesture. The work is rendered in graphite on paper with soft modeling and careful attention to the figure's delicate features and the texture of the hair, against a neutral gray background. A paintbrush with a dark handle rests alongside the artwork.

F

Sam Umbral

9/18/2015 – 10/28/2015

Press Release (PDF)

I started out thinking I would write an artist's statement about what the title “F” means. Then I thought I would leave it ambiguous and jump into writing about identity and contemporary culture but that seemed too obvious. I thought I could write about my process but ultimately I decided it is uninteresting in the “statement” context.

I find myself only thinking about my personal life and trying to live each day working towards my gender transition. I am a transgender woman and I have been painting and drawing girlhood for a few years. I can’t say that there is a specific reason why I do this and I cannot say that I have a specific message I am trying to get across to an audience with an artwork hanging on a wall. This all seems appropriate, that is to say, I am always in a state of uncertainty and flux. I hope this pseudo-statement is more compelling than declaring what “F” is or isn’t.

Exhibition Images ()

  • A figure with long green hair and wings stands frontally against an architectural background rendered in muted greens and beiges. The drawing, executed in colored pencil with delicate linear details, depicts the figure wearing a white garment with a gold pendant, surrounded by geometric forms and structural elements.
  • Two paintings depicting young women in interior spaces hang on white gallery walls. The larger work on the left features a figure in profile with muted earth tones and cross-hatched textures, while the smaller composition on the right shows a figure against a coral-colored background. Both works employ soft, naturalistic rendering with subtle color palettes dominated by beige, gray, and warm tones.
  • A portrait of a figure with long, pale hair and a serene expression, rendered in soft pink tones against a cream-colored background. The figure is depicted from the shoulders up, wearing a green and blue striped bikini top, with simplified landscape forms in blue and green suggesting water or sky behind them.
A detailed portrait drawing of a young person with long dark hair, shown in profile with their hand raised near their face in a contemplative gesture. The work is rendered in graphite on paper with soft modeling and careful attention to the figure's delicate features and the texture of the hair, against a neutral gray background. A paintbrush with a dark handle rests alongside the artwork.

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