Press
Coverage, placements, and media resources for Observerism and Samuel Morrow. Biographies and facts below are cleared for publication as written.
Notable placements
The Finkel acquisition
The Observer of National Science, the founding work of the Scientist Series, acquired by its subject, Dr Alan Finkel AC, former Chief Scientist of Australia, together with its study.
The Scientist Series expands
Portraits of Professor Elisabetta Barberio (SABRE dark matter experiment, University of Melbourne) and Professor Brian Schmidt AC (Nobel Laureate, Australian National University), painted from sittings at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory and Mount Stromlo Observatory.
Articles, interviews, and mentions will be listed here as they are published.
Fact sheet
Copy below is cleared for publication and may be used as written, in a catalogue, wall label, program note, or article.
One line
Samuel Morrow is a Sydney painter and the founder of Observerism, a theory of painting in which the act of looking completes the work.
Short biography — 50 words
Samuel Morrow is a Sydney painter and the founder of Observerism, a formal art theory built on the physics of observation: a fully resolved focal zone, a wave-state periphery, and a boundary between them set by the viewer. His Scientist Series portrays Australian scientists inside the instruments of their research.
Full biography — 100 words
Samuel Morrow is a painter based in Surry Hills, Sydney, and the founder of Observerism. Each work is built as an observation event: the focal point is painted as collapsed, resolved fact, while the periphery holds the wave state, rings and spirals of what the gaze has not yet resolved. He is a building designer by training and works as an architectural lead; the paintings are self-taught and the system behind them is specified with the precision of a structural one. The first work of his Scientist Series was acquired by its subject, Dr Alan Finkel AC, Australia’s former Chief Scientist.
Key facts
- Practice: Observerism, founded by Samuel Morrow. Large-format oil on canvas; Scientist Series portraits are 180 × 120 cm.
- Subjects to date: Dr Alan Finkel AC (Chief Scientist of Australia 2016–2020), Professor Elisabetta Barberio (SABRE dark matter experiment, University of Melbourne), Professor Brian Schmidt AC (Nobel Laureate in Physics, Australian National University).
- Sittings: conducted on site, including a kilometre underground at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory and among the ruins at Mount Stromlo Observatory.
- Based: Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia. Studio visits by appointment.
How to describe the artist
Please use “painter”, or “painter and building designer”. Samuel holds a Diploma of Building Design and works as an architectural lead in Sydney. The physics in the work is a construction rule rather than a qualification, and describing it as one would misstate the practice.
Press kit & media contact
High-resolution images of every work, a full artist CV, a catalogue of available works and provenance documentation are all available on request. Interviews and studio visits in Surry Hills, Sydney are welcome.
Samuel Morrow
samuelmorrow@observerism.com
0410 644 852