Lucas Samaras (1936-2024) is a Greek-American artist who works in painting, sculpture, performance art, and photography to investigate themes of identity and self-investigation.
Born in Kastoria, Greece, Samaras came to America in 1939 and studied art at Rutgers University and art history at Columbia University under Meyer Schapiro. His ventures in the contemporary art world included his participation in Allan Kaprow�s Happenings and his famous series, Photo-Transformation (1973-1976), that manipulated the wet dyes in Polaroid photographic film to Surrealist effect. Samaras�s groundbreaking Mirrored Room (1966) was one of the first installation artworks that allowed viewers to actively participate. He also created various collages and assemblages that explore his own self-image. Works by Samaras are included in the collections of numerous public art institutions, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., the Tate Gallery in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, and the National Gallery in Athens.