Sam Herbert

Sam Herbert, "Modern Major General", 2008

Sam Herbert

 

The paintings of Samuel Herbert seemingly exist in worlds that have disappeared. From the ‘old boys’ network’ of the member’s only gentlemen’s club to the life of the pukka sahib in the days of the British Raj, Herbert’s paintings immediately strike the viewer as being instantly familiar and yet strangely foreign. His work seeks to exploit the tension between a nostalgic, and perhaps fictional, view of the past and the harsher reality upon which these myths were built. Herbert does not seek to criticise or valorise the subject matter of his paintings but rather pose a question regarding our relationship to history, a history that can sometimes prove to be a challenge to contemporary sensibilities.

 

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—The Royal Republic, 15 May 2009