Sam Foley (artist)
Sam Foley (born 1977) is a contemporary New Zealand landscape painter. His often large, finely detailed paintings portray nature and urban landscapes, combining aspects of hyper-realism and photo-realism. Life and career. Sam Foley was born in Wellington, New Zealand and in 1998 received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Otago School of Art in Dunedin. In 2007 he won a Merit Award (1st equal) at the Parklane Art Awards in Auckland, with his painting "Pathway at Night." He was awarded twice (2008 – 2009) the Peoples Choice Award at the Norfolk House Realist Invitational in  Dunedin, and twice (2009 – 2010) the Peoples Choice Award at The Wallace Art Awards in Auckland. In 2013 he won The Kaipara Wallace Arts Trust Award, with his painting "Tilting at the Beast." The award founder and arts patron Sir James Wallace acquired one of Foley's kinetic paintings entitled "Opoho Intersection No.1." Since 2008 he has visited Europe regularly, spending extensive periods of time in Berlin and attending residencies in Norway and Switzerland. His works can be found in several private and public art collections such as the Dunedin International Airport collection, the Historic Places Trust of New South  Wales in Australia, The ASB Bank in Auckland, The Wallace Trust in Auckland, The Central Library and Salmond College in the University of Otago. Moving Image Paintings. In 2008 Foley embarked on a 10 week research tour in Europe where he visited more than 30 major museums and galleries. Most of the contemporary galleries had a dedicated moving image section which brought up the idea how to incorporate moving image onto his work. At the end of his research tour Foley returned to New Zealand and started experimenting in his studio with video projections onto his paintings. He recorded video  footage of the landscapes he was painting and projected those onto the finished painting. The result was a 'moving image painting' which transports the viewer into the painting for a more immersive experience.