Canvas prints of Amy Winehouse go on sale
About Sam Shaker
| I started my career as an artist after obtaining my degree from Leonardo da Vinci academy of art. |
My dream was to work in Paris, I was hoping to get a visa for at least six months but all I got was a six day transit visa. However I went to Paris on a one way ticket, full of hope and determination, knowing there was no chance for me to return to Egypt. On arrival I made my way to the French Metropolis of art and took a tiny room in a hostel in Pigalle, my luggage included several rolled up canvases.
Those were hard times the glass in my window was broken, the stove wouldn't burn in the cold winter, I was very poor, the room next door belonged to my friend another street artist, there was only a partition between us, I was so hungry I had to make do with 3 meals a week, the rest of the time I managed on dried dates or Egyptian dried sausages which my mother prepared for me before I left Cairo weeks before. My hunger caused me to hallucinate, I saw things like shapes on the wall and the ceiling I discovered that I could work from hallucinations, and produce unusual paintings.
Every day I walked from Pigalle to Montmartre where I worked as a street artist. To live and work illegal in Paris was not easy, I was living on a knife edge, knowing that I risked getting caught and being deported back to Egypt. Several times the Police passed by while I was painting I greet them with Bonjour Monsieur. They were very friendly returning my greeting with Bon Jour, Ca va? They usually complimented my work by saying "Trés Bon C'est beau " and carried on to leave me in peace.
To see people appreciating my work during my time in Montmartre hid all the struggle and conflicts which I had to undergo and gave me an unshakable will to establish myself as a portrait artist.
Paris became like a second home to me with the abundance of people wanting to have their portraits done.
The more portraits I painted the more experienced I became and I learned to exaggerate their beauty to justify my fees.
Montmartre famous for its bohemian life style and its wonderful sights: Sacre Coeur, Place Due Tertre has been the home of street artists for hundreds of years, they gather from all over the world to showcase their art, find models and live the freedom that is the lifestyle of the freelance artist.
Famous painters, such as Van Gogh, Picasso, Henri Matisse 'the master of colour' Joan Miro and Toulouse Lautrec the painter whose work captured the spirit of bohemian Paris in the naughty 1890's spent their time there.
I was greatly inspired by the works and bohemian life style of Toulouse Lautrec & Picasso so I choose to follow their footsteps in the hope that one day I would paint celebrities and models and make my mark in the art business.
I grew up in the 60's when things were so much easier. To grow up in the world today is more complicated.
There are two mutually exclusive approaches in my art, one can demand that the individual features of a person should be recognizable while at the same time aiming at a radical simplification of forms in geometrical patterns, which is maintaining the balance between the two main ideas, "Naturalism and Abstraction" neither of these two principles can occur without the other.
Over the last 5 years Amy Winehouse has been a frequent patron of Sam's club and a very close friend of Sams. The Sun newspaper referred to Sam as Amy's Second Dad, which indicates how close they relationship were. Sam is very proud to have been such an important part od Amy's life and was devastated when she died.
To view the online gallery of Sam's portraits of Amy Winehouse please click here.
Sam's website
Please click here to visit Sam's website.
Win a stretched canvas print of Amy Winehouse by Sam Shaker
Click here to enter our competition for a stretched canvas of Amy Winehouse
Canvas prints of Amy Winehouse go on sale
Stretched canvas prints of the Amy Winehouse paintngs by Sam Shaker are now available to order online. Click here to see the images for sale.
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Portrait of Amy Winehouse by Sam Shaker
Click here to enter our competition for a stretched canvas of Amy Winehouse
Meeting your requirements
While we hope that the information we have provided above has been of help to you, we appreciate that everyone's requirements are different and invite you to contact us about your specific needs, or call on 01494 721739 for more information.
