22 december 2023, Wouter van den Eijkel
Fertile ground, tender scenes | Sam Andrea - Fecund Ground
Currently on display at Gallery van Fanny Freytag, the new and as yet only gallery in Amsterdam North, is the exhibition Fecund Ground by Sam Andrea. Andrea has earned a reputation for paintings that reveal our dark side, indulgences and passions. While his canvases still feature plenty of nudity, S&M masks and mud fights, his palette is less extravagant than before. The portrait of a woman in a bathtub is downright tender. The intensity now lies in the flexibility with which he captures various skin tones. Sam Andrea seems to have found slightly calmer waters.
Andrea graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in 2018 and reportedly was the only student in his year who painted with a brush on canvas. Although figurative painting has since gained significantly in popularity, the themes Andrea addresses remain somewhat overshadowed. Against the current, Andrea prefers to paint the madness behind the polished façade. Consider the lust, violence and physicality of mud fights, stuntmen and drinking bouts alongside the relentless gentrification of Amsterdam and polished Instagram posts and TikToks and you'll understand where Andrea stands.
Sam Andrea, Woman in the Bath, 2023, Gallery van Fanny Freytag
Fertile ground
In Fecund Ground, which means fertile ground, there is still plenty of nudity, S&M masks and mud fights, but also a tender portrait of a woman in a bathtub and the absent gaze of the model in Venus. She holds her hand on her heart, displaying an empathetic posture. Sam Andrea seems to have entered slightly calmer waters. The physical aspect has certainly not disappeared from Andrea's work, it is merely expressed differently. Andrea has traded his vibrant palette for more subdued and muted colours, such as lots of flesh-coloured hues and shades of grey.
Sam Andrea, Venus, 2023, Gallery van Fanny Freytag
"For a long time now, I’ve wanted to create a painting with a back and an ear because the light shines so beautifully there," says Sam Andrea (Amsterdam, 1991) about Woman in the Bath. "You sometimes hear that people want to touch work by Rembrandt because of his use of paint. Well, I work a bit less impasto than he did, but that's the feeling I wish to create." With the idyllic Woman in the Bath, Andrea succeeds, because as a viewer, you feel the urge to stroke her back. Nevertheless, real contact seems impossible. The model in Venus is not gazing at you and we see the woman in the bathtub from behind. The works are simultaneously intimate and distant. That's also why Andrea painted portraits of someone with a dog mask and a naked woman putting on a white mask. "It's not a kinky thing," says Andrea, "but more that you can see someone with a mask, but not really."
Sam Andrea, White mask mirror, 2023, Gallery van Fanny Freytag
Less extravagant
Even a larger work like The Struggle is less extravagant than Andrea would have executed in the past. The bodies lie and sit in the mud, but the untamed madness of before seems to be missing. Here, too, you want to touch the bodies, if only to see if the mud is real.
The struggle is still real for Andrea in working with canvas. "I engage in the two loneliest sports in the world: martial arts and painting," he jokes, standing in front of Squared Circle, a large work with two people under the mud about to attack each other. Whether battling an opponent or with paint, in both cases you are entirely dependent on yourself.
Sam Andrea, The Struggle, 2023, Gallery van Fanny Freytag
Special edition
In honour of Fecund Ground, a beautiful box set has also been released with 20 linocuts that Andrea has made over the past 10 years. Andrea creates linocuts by way of a change from painting. The process is different, says Andrea. Paint goes in all directions, but linoleum does not. Andrea explains, "To me, it's a nice way to see what I've created in past years. I made the earliest linocuts with my left hand because I had broken my right one at the time."
The only gallery in Noord
Apart from a few project spaces, Gallery van Fanny Freytag is currently the only gallery in Amsterdam Noord. This is remarkable considering the rapid gentrification the district is currently undergoing. The space on Schaafstraat, in the Hamerstraat industrial estate, is bright and has tall ceilings, making it perfect for a gallery. Ruben Bunder and Meier Boersma thought so, too. The duo behind Gallery Vriend van Bavink, located in the city centre, saw potential for a branch in Noord. Fanny Freytag, named after the eccentric baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhofen, who is believed to have been the actual creator behind Duchamp's Fountain, opened its doors this fall.
Gallery van Fanny Freytag is run by Len Rooth and Nina Harzallah-Winterink, who have been closely involved in the gallery's establishment from the beginning and are responsible for programming, which partly aligns with that of the main gallery, as Sam Andrea has been featured several times at Geldersekade.
Sam Andrea, Vrouw op troon, 2023, Gallery van Fanny Freytag
Fecund Ground by Sam Andrea is on display at Gallery van Fanny Freytag until 20 January.
