Through a process-based approach that incorporates performance, the use of ‘machines’ and which treats paint in a readymade and sculptural way, Huseyin Sami’s practice is a material investigation into the possibilities of paint. The strategic use of a limited palette and the almost complete absence of the brush within his work positions Sami’s ‘paintings’ in a curious corner of the discourse of contemporary painting.

At once participatory within the expanded discourse of 20th century abstraction, Sami’s practice is also somewhat aloof, pursuing a less doctrinary, parallel trajectory. Paint is poured, peeled and purloined from ‘painting’ and engaged with independently of a support or concern of the picture plane. Syntax of Thicks and Thins is a suite of new works where congealed ‘skins’ of paint are applied to the surface of the canvas. Variations on the monochrome, as well as the introduction of an expanded palette mark the exhibition as a further evolution in Sami’s oeuvre, which has evolved in breadth, depth and consistency since he began exhibiting in solo and group exhibitions in the early 2000s.

Huseyin Sami was born in the United Kingdom in 1979 and arrived in Australia in 1983. Sami graduated from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hons. First Class) in 2000, before completing a Masters of Visual Arts at the same institution in 2003. He has exhibited extensively in some of Australia and New Zealand’s most respected galleries, from artist-run initiatives such as Firstdraft, MOP, Peleton, Penthouse & Pavement, and Wren, to commercial spaces including Sarah Cottier, Hamish McKay, Uplands Gallery and Anna Bibby, as well as institutional galleries including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Linden Art Centre, Melbourne; Artspace, Sydney; UTS Gallery, Sydney and Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery, Hazelhurst.

In 2012 Sami participated in Never Underestimate a Monochrome – an international travelling exhibition and archive exploring the monochrome in contemporary practice, which was facilitated by the University of Iowa. Huseyin Sami’s work is held in the collections of Artbank, Australia; Saatchi & Saatchi, New Zealand and private collections in Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and the United States.