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ArtCurious Podcast

Author Interview: Gabrielle Selz's "Light on Fire: The Art and Life of Sam Francis"

ArtCurious Podcast

ArtCurious

Arts, History, Visual Arts

4.8847 Ratings

🗓️ 29 August 2022

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We’re back on ArtCurious with another great interview episode for you today. Today’s episode features a conversation about Light on Fire, the first comprehensive biography of the life and work of the abstract artist Sam Francis by award-winning author Gabrielle Selz. Drawing from exclusive interviews and private correspondence, including Ed Ruscha and Robert Irwin, Selz traces Francis’s extraordinary and complex life.   Please SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW our show on Apple Podcasts and FOLLOW on Spotify Instagram / Facebook / YouTube Buy Light on Fire here! SPONSORS: BetterHelp: Get 10% off your first month of counseling Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.0

Hi there. We are back on Art Curious today with another interview episode for you. Today's episode

0:35.9

features a conversation about Light on Fire, the first

0:39.7

comprehensive biography of the life and work of the abstract artist Sam Francis by award-winning

0:45.9

author Gabrielle Sells. Drawing from exclusive interviews and private correspondence,

0:51.0

including that of Ed Roushay and Robert Irwin, Sells traces Francis's extraordinary

0:56.1

and complex life. Francis first learned how to paint as a former Air Corps pilot while he was

1:02.0

encased for three years in a full body cast. His insatiable desire spanned women, places, experiences,

1:09.9

art movements, and business deals for Francis to reach

1:12.9

equilibrium. He courted change and drama, even encouraging conflict because it forced him to

1:18.7

retreat into his art, and it paid off. As a young man, Sam saw his color-drenched abstractions

1:25.1

fetched the highest prices of any living artist.

1:28.7

With an international scope from World War II San Francisco to post-war Paris to New York,

1:34.2

Tokyo, and Los Angeles, Light on Fire reveals the intimate story of a man who sought to resolve

1:40.0

in art the contradictions he couldn't resolve in his life.

1:46.2

Light on Fire is a revelatory biography that uncovers the formative events in Francis's life, along with the fictions he created around

1:51.6

himself and his work. Gabrielle Sells is the award-winning author of Unstill Life, a daughter's

1:58.4

memoir of Art and Love in the age of abstraction and light on fire.

...

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