Arts

Color, cars, chic’s and cigars: the world of painter Sam Esmoer

by Mae Lee Sun

dark and brooding sky, a full moon and a cemetery on the hill. In the foreground, a man playing conga and a couple dancing closely. Wearing a provocative red dress, the woman swoons at her male partner. He leers ever closer in a Dia de los Muertos mask. Part reality, part cartoon, something provocative yet amusing is going on in “The Big Combo,” an oil-on-canvas painting by local artist Sam Esmoer.

KXCI DJ and local photographer Michael Hyatt, along with UA professor Scott Kroken and Tana Kelch, co-owner of Bohemia artists collective, see astonishing genius in Esmoer’s work. Hyatt recently acquired “The Big Combo” which he found at Bohemia, the only gallery in Tucson that carries Esmoer’s paintings (although some pieces hang in Tubac and Tempe). Ironically, Hyatt bought several ‘Esmoers’, as they are affectionately called, from Bohemia at a time Kelch didn’t even have the space to show them. Now paintings like “Combo”, “Charlie Don’t Surf (a.k.a. Big Wednesday)”, “Serena del Mar”, “Scenic Overlooks”, and “The Long Haul” hang prominently on the walls with price tags ranging upward of eighteen-hundred dollars.

“I was blown away when I saw Sam’s portfolio. He has an amazing take on the Southwest without being cheesy or cliché—everything from the colors to his ability to embrace the culture and the barrios of Tucson in a way no one else is doing. He really understands life,” says Kelch, adding that he’s on his way to cult-like celebrity that’s attracted buyers from all over the country.

Kroken says he’s become a collector of Esmoers not just because they are technically and aesthetically good paintings but because of the sense that the artist knows how to tell a good story. House of Dreams is Kroken and his partners’ third investment. Dreams depicts a Bisbee-like scene with a classic schoolgirl figure sitting on the bottom step of a stone cathedral staircase, flanked by a pair of gargoyle angels. A man/boy, in a Dia de los Muertos mask rides past on his bicycle gazing back at her or perhaps even the viewer he suspects is beyond the edge of the canvas.

“I envision him like a Henri Cartier-Bresson or the director of a good film noir. The elements of surrealism and sort of fish-eye perspective lends itself to a hyper-reality that I could never get sick of. You look at it and know that something is about to happen. A lot of modern art is done by artists who have stepped over technique which is easily covered over with marketing. But Sam knows what he’s doing”.

Those involved in the Modern art scene and psychoanalysis might have something different to say however. For instance, what do all these day of the dead and lurking, distorted yet colorful male and female figures have to say not only about the scene going on in the painting, but about the guy behind the brush? Is there an element of him in the pictures? Is he the guy peeking out behind the tree? Driving the old 50s Chevy or smoking that cigarette outside the diner? Is he sad? Reclusive? Nostalgic for a simpler, more colorful world?

Not exactly, according to Esmoer’s biggest fan, older brother David, who has shared much of the behind-the-scene experiences and lifestyle that’s become the inspiration for Esmoers’ provocative paintings. As kids, they were into reading sci-fi, pulp fiction and classic literature. They lived the hardcore punk rock and skater scene throughout the 70s and 80s, hung out in clubs, and rode motorcycles; resisting the soul-less and mundane life they felt was becoming typical of American culture.

While both Esmoers went on to earn college degrees, the life they were living still didn’t gel in the mind of the masses. Sometimes it outright conflicted. David says for them, life was art and about a broader definition of freedom and reality—something he feels the mainstream art world continues to lack, especially in its lack of appeal to Sam.

“Sam’s the kind of person who has to do what he wants. With that, there isn’t any pressure to get ‘success’ outside himself the way normal people do through their jobs, status and possessions. They’re really not noticing life or having one. Sam, on the other hand, spends a lot of time hanging out with and watching people. And, it shows. The imagery in his work is getting stronger and a lot of it has to do with the fact that he’s extremely intelligent and has a great sense of humor. People can often miss that and only look at his work superficially and label it this or that when in reality, there’s a lot more going on.”

Take “Serena del Mar” for instance. A sexy pinup-style mermaid lies on her side, having just taken a drag from a cigarette that’s dangling from her hand. A beer can rests comfortably close on the sand. It’s obviously not just any mermaid, but an empowered and multidimensional one, much like the women who have been a part of Esmoers’ experiences. On the one hand it has a romantic, Botticelli quality. On the other, it’s a funked up Madonna-seashell bra and all. But he’s not the one comparing. He’s too busy cruising on his vintage BMW motorcycle through small, desert towns, eating at random taco stands or having beers with friends at roadside bars. Having to negotiate conversation and commission splits with gallery owners is not of primary concern. Although, he’s wise enough to know that being tied to the art world and having a pocketful of cash is nothing to shy away from.

Esmoer is as complex and complete as his work. He lives and paints adventurously, blending further the lines of distinction between what is conventionally considered acceptable and that which imagination and real living make possible.

Esmoers’ work can be seen at Bohemia, 299 S. Park Avenue, 882-0800.