Traywick Contemporary is thrilled to present Portents, a new exhibition of paintings by Samantha Fields. In this compelling body of work, Fields delves into themes of impermanence, perception, and the fleeting nature of time, capturing the ineffable qualities of the natural world as it evolves rapidly and unpredictably. Through her signature painting technique, Fields’ photo-realistic style transforms everyday moments into enigmatic scenes that explore both the wonder and unsettling qualities of our existence.

Portents evokes a fractured world slipping away—a reality that is constantly in flux and slipping just out of reach. Fields uses the metaphor of celestial phenomena, such as a total solar eclipse, to articulate this elusive feeling. “A total solar eclipse”, she says, “is an uncanny alignment that casts day into night, momentarily unraveling the fabric of reality itself… an experience both wondrous and deeply unsettling”. These moments of cosmic alignment, both fleeting and profound, mirror the transitory experiences Fields captures in her paintings.

In her artistic practice, Fields focuses on capturing nature through veils and lenses — car windows, fog, smoke, rain, and the night itself all act as filters that separate her from the world. “In my paintings”, Fields explains. “I am less focused on clarity than on the experience itself. Often, the imperfect photographic elements—lens flares, light leaks, and subtle distortions—that best capture the fragility and transience of perception. They remind us that what we see is fleeting, fragmented, and vulnerable—capturing the impermanence of both the physical world and the act of seeing itself.

Southern California writer Annie Buckley, in her essay for Fields’ C.O.L.A. project, writes, “She transforms the everyday into something magical, a feat, to be sure; but more important… is the way the painting becomes something that is neither here nor there, not the journey nor the process, but a finite and distinct collision of light and time and memory catapulted slowly and carefully into being.” This collision of light, memory, and time is key to the emotive power of Fields’ work.

Fields’ paintings invite viewers to step into these fleeting moments—smoke lingering in the sky from nearby fires, city lights blurred by rain, blazing sun under oppressive heat waves, or the soft transition of shadows across a nighttime landscape. These transitory flashes—gone nearly as soon as they begin—speak to the ephemeral qualities of both time and beauty. Fields’ use of photographic techniques in her paintings, such as light leaks and lens flares, reinforces the idea that the world is always shifting, always on the verge of disappearing.

Samantha Fields lives and works in Los Angeles, where she is currently a Professor and Chair of Art and Design at California State University, Northridge. She has received numerous awards and professional recognition, including a prestigious City of Los Angeles (COLA) Individual Artist Grant. She has an extensive exhibition history and her work has been collected by and exhibited at noted public institutions such as the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Stanford University Health Care, Stanford, CA; the University Art Museum, CSU Long Beach, CA; Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, CA; Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Cranbrook, MI; Jones Center for Contemporary Art, Austin, TX; and the Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA. She has been represented by Traywick Contemporary since 2012.