Samuel Bassett (b. 1982, St. Ives, United Kingdom) is a British artist living and working in Cornwall, where his family line has long existed as part of the fishing and mining communities. Living in a small, rural community in Penwith, near Penzance in Cornwall, hos work is intensely personal. The paintings reflect and document his multi-layered, psychological, and physical experiences within his community, and his journeys both physical and mental over the last the last few years. His move from St Ives has offered a slower, more contemplative existence and the subsequent narratives take in the vagaries of general village life. Time stretches, with figures observed across weeks; people praying, walking, swimming, urinating in fields, picking crops, and clearing land. Yet all the time snippets of past memories come back to infiltrate this calm. Each painting seems to include many chapters of a story, mixed with quotes from the past and present.
Recent solo exhibitions include The Birds, Wellington Arch, Vigo Gallery, London, The Village, Vigo Gallery, London (2023); Oi Oi, Vigo Gallery, Bridge Point Art Centre, Rye, East Sussex, UK (2021); Fish Men, Mackerel Skies, Vortic Virtual Reality, Vigo Gallery (2019); Hourglass, Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives, UK (2018); From Wood and Leather Boots, Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin, Germany (2018). Recent group exhibitions include the RA Summer Exhibition (invited exhibitor), London (2023); Stream Under Representation, Asia Art Center, Beijing (2023); 10, PM/AM Gallery, London (2021), Untitled Virtual Reality, Vigo Gallery, London (2019); One of One, After Projects, London (2018), Untitled Miami, Galerie Kornfeld, Miami (2018); Paper Cuts, curated by Kris Day, Saatchi Gallery, London (2018); and Berlin Calling, curated by Phillip Groezinger, Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin (2017).