Sam Roloff Artist Painter Oils Portland San Francisco Chicago Prague

This painting is the first true example of a new method called "Back-Story Under-Painting". The basic idea is that each layer of painting has a slightly different story to tell. Each one of these 'stories' is documented by a digital photo to allow for the artist to "move on" without the concern of an idea being lost. The image on the front is simply the most current of the series. 

This painting is inspired by the recent economic situation the world is in. It is not finished as of yet, so you can track the "Back-Story Under-Painting".

Lady Liberty can be seen in the center of the painitng, her body has been left naked, transparent and fallen to her knees. The collage head was printed on a color laser printer on watercolor paper.

Sam Roloff’s “Springtime in Portland with Ant DNA” is a brilliant expression within a new genre of art called “Back-story Underpainting”.

The idea originated in Sam Roloff’s studio as he began layering multiple paintings sequentially on a single canvas. Hidden, within each finished work of art, is a multilayered collection of paintings.

Each under-work as well as the outer surface has an associated tale or back-story represented by the artist in written word and digital photography. The underpaintings are often edgy, controversial, and even shocking. These secretive expressions of the artist are then hidden one by one and finally sealed with a gorgeous surface-work.

This painting by Artist Sam Roloff is one of his earliest examples of his "Back-Story Underpainting" method where the artist paints with more expression and color at first. Then much like a "Time Capsule" each layer is painted over hidding nearly all the original work, look closely and you will still see hints of the past. He likens this method to an Archeologist digging through the layers of ground.

Medium: Gamblin Oil Paints on Hand Stretched Canvas by Jeff at Custom Canvas
Size: 54 inches x 30 inches

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Size: 36 x 48

This painting deals with the different divisions within the church since the inception, inspired by Bart Ehrman.

The composition was modeled directly after Da Vinci's Last Supper but that’s where the similarities stop. Each group of apostles deals with the differences amongst themselves not any of them relating with the central figure. The dialog is meant to be read from right to left. 

Starting with the group on the right:

This photo was taken on the streets of Praha/ Prague. I had to leave this piece in prague so if you see it let me know.

This is the first version of the painted, I later colored it in. I still don't know if I made a big mistake. I really like both version and I am just glad I got a photo of it while I did.

THUS SPAKE ZARATHUSTRA by Friedrich Nietzsche.

This is a book that was very influential to me, so I used it in this collage as the background. There are also sketches of a sculpture bust that was being sculpted in marble by another student at Cabrillo college. As well as scans of "Twiggy" the super model. What does it all mean. Well it ended up on the top panel of the door of my cabin in Santa Cruz / Felton California.