Student showcase: Sami Jacq

THIRD-YEAR, B.F.A. PAINTING

INTERVIEWED BY LESLIE GINTER | PORTRAIT BY SEYOUNG JANG

Where do you find inspiration for your work?

Music was my initial inspiration as my synesthesia got me into painting. I still love painting songs, but I don’t want to limit myself to just that. My flower paintings are inspired by art history and memento mori, the idea of inevitable death. That’s where I place my faith into my paintings, by communicating it through subtle symbolism. I also want to speak on suicide prevention, something that’s near and dear to my heart. Painting helps my mental health, so I’m inspired to help others through it.

What painters do you look up to?

Jack Coulter is a synesthesia artist that I really look up to. He’s a British artist in his mid-20s who paints with house paint and vodka. He manages to paint songs in a way that really communicates their texture and movement. I also love Zarina Situmorang and Nastya Parfilo. Their paintings are gorgeous and they’re both immensely talented.

What is your creative process?

If I’m painting a song, I’ll sketch it out with colored pencils. Then I put the song on repeat and paint away. Sometimes there are many layers to a song, so it takes longer to finish. For flowers, I buy a bouquet and photograph them in my little photography corner I have set up. I graph them onto large canvases and paint them with oil paint. The photo acts as a starting point, but I never follow it exactly. It’s more of a guideline and the paint leads me outside of it.

Why did you choose painting over other art mediums?

Paint has always been accessible to me. When I was younger, I would go to my grandmother ‘s house and she would have containers full of paint and cheap wooden figures to paint on. So I started painting at a young age, but I never really thought of it as a possible career path until I was a junior in high school.

What have you learned at SCAD that’s really stuck with you?

I’ve learned so much since I started at SCAD. I hadn’t even touched oil before my second year here and now it’s my favorite medium. One major thing that I’ve learned here is that painting is so broad. I never imagined I would get a toolbox and have to use a drill as a painting major. My eyes have been opened to mural painting, and I’ve even dabbled in it a bit on buildings throughout Atlanta. Painting and sculpture have a tight-knit relationship that I didn’t really know existed. I’ve learned that there is so much more to painting that just the paint itself.