Biography
b.1982 in Pittsburgh, PA
lives and works in Oakland, CA
Education
2008
MFA, Yale University, New Haven, CT
2004
BFA, New York University, New York
Solo Exhibitions
2017
Sam Contis / Matrix 266, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, CA
Deep Springs, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York
Group Exhibitions
2021
Touch, curated by Augusto Arbizo, Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York
Controlling the Chaos, Organized by Dan Leers, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Golden Hour: California Photography from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
Masculinities: Liberation Through Photography, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK;
Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany;Les Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France, 2020-21
PHOTO 2021. International Festival of Photography, Melbourne, Australia
2020
La Boîte-en-Valise, a project by Office Baroque at la-boite-en-valise.com
Dorothea Lange: Words and Pictures, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Magnetic West, Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA
2019
Character Study, Ratio 3, San Francisco, CA
The Second Body, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York
2018
The Daegu Biennial, curated by Ami Barak, Daegu, South Korea
Earache, organized by Jordan Stein, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Being: New Photography 2018, curated by Lucy Gallun, Museum of Modern Art, New York
2017
Foam, Beaconsfield Vauxhall, London, UK
2016
Indivisible, Fotomuseum Antwerp, Belgium
Unseen Photography Festival, Amsterdam, NL
Fifteen Years, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
In the Cut, Gallery Luisotti, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Flames on the Side of My Face, Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, New York
Publications
2021
Magnetic West, published by Skira
2020
Day Sleeper, published by MACK
2019
Heavy Collective, Vol III
2017
Deep Springs, published by MACK
2016
Foam Magazine, by Duncan Wooldridge, Issue #45
2014
Blind Spot, Issue 48, edited by Doug Aitken, Fall
Bibliography
2020
Griffith, Phillip, “20 Best Art Books of 2020”, Brooklyn Rail, December.
Ahmed, Fatima, “I found a Dorothea Lange who was new to me’ – an interview with Sam Contis”,Apollo Magazine, August 21.
Regensdorf, Laura, “21 Best Books of 2020”, Vanity Fair, July 23.
Biggs, Joanna, “On Dorothea Lange”, London Review of Books, Vol. 42 No. 14, July 16.
Stoppard, Lou, “In London, an Exhibition Provokes Questions about Masculinity”, Aperture, July 14.
Hatfield, Zack, “Artful Volumes”, Bookforum, Summer.
Connell, Kelli, “Book Review: ‘Day Sleeper’”, Strange Fire Collective, June 1.
Contis, Sam, and Meister, Sarah, A Portfolio of Photographs, MoMA Magazine, April 29
Fateman, Johanna, “A Different Side to Dorothea Lange”, The New Yorker, April 12.
Aletti, Vince, “Photo Books”, Photograph Magazine, March/April .
Loos, Ted, “Way Out West,” Cultured Magazine, April.
Hughes, Stuart, “Holly The Art of Documentary Photography: Dorothea Lange Reconsidered,” Time.com, February 21.
Sanderson, Sertan, “Die Männlichkeit auf dem Prüfstand,” DW, February 21.
Hutton, Belle, “Boys by Girls: Portrayals of Masculinity by Women Photographers,” AnOther Mag, February 21.
Alleyne, Allyssia, “What makes a man? Across generations, photographers have provided eclectic answers,” CNN.com, February 20.
Ovenden, Olivia, “What Does Masculinity Mean Anymore Anyway?,” Esquire, February 20.
Thompson, Jo, “The Barbican’s new photography show celebrates unfixed ideas of masculinity,” Dazed, February 20.
Yeung, Peter, “The Barbican’s New Show Proves Masculinity Doesn’t Always Have to Be Toxic,” AnOther Man, February 19.
O’Hagan, Sean, “Masculinities review: men laid bare from boardroom to battlefield,” The Guardian,
February 17.
Murray Brown, Griselda, “Up close and personal: the other side of Dorothea Lange,” Financial Times,February 14.
O’Hagan, Sean, “Landscapes, langour and limbs: the other side of Dorothea Lange”, The Guardian, February 14.
Lubow, Arthur, “Empathy and Artistry: Rediscovering Dorothea Lange,” New York Times, February 13.
Hutton, Belle, “In Pictures: The Unflinching Photography of Dorothea Lange”, AnOther Mag, February 10.
Watling, Eve, “Dorothea Lange: An alternative look at the photographer who humanised the Great Depression,” Independent UK, February 6.
Florian, Federico, “La mascolinità alla Barbican Art Gallery,” Il Giornele dell’ Arte.com, February.
Singer, Fanny, “Inside the Unseen Archives of Dorothea Lange,” Wall Street Journal, January 8.
2019
Helfand, Glen, “Character Study at Ratio 3, San Francisco”, Photograph Magazine, October 1.
2018
Greenberger, Alex, “MoMA’s Gripping ‘New Photography’ Goes Behind the Lens,” ArtNews, March 22.
Lubow, Arthur, “What’s New in Photography? Humanism, MoMA Says,” New York Times, March 9.
2017
Cole, Teju, “The Best Photo Books of 2017,” New York Times, December 30.
Schwabsky, Barry, “Sam Contis at Klaus von Nichtsssagend Gallery,” Artforum, September.
Westin, Monica, “Sam Contis at BAMPFA,” Artforum.com, June 18.
Maddox, Amanda, “Photographing the Body Electric,” Aperture.com, June 17.
McPhate, Mike, “Scenes From an Unusual College in the High Desert,” New York Times.com, June 8.
Thackara, Tess, “A Photographer Turns Her Lens on One of America’s Last All-Male Colleges”, Arsty Editioral, May 11.
Schuman, Aaron “Deep Springs by Sam Contis”, FT Magazine, May 11.
“9 Art Events to Attend in New York City This Week”, Artnews, May 8.
Stewart, Ian A., “Higher Ed in the High Desert”, San Francisco Magazine, May 2.
2016
Weiss, Haley, “Coffee Table Curator: April 2017”, Interview Magazine, April 28 IMA, Vol. 18
Awards
2017
Nancy Graves Foundation Artist Grant
2016
Aaron Siskind Foundation Fellowship
Public Collections
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Carré d’Art–Musée d’art contemporain, Nîmes, France
KADIST, San Francisco, CA | Paris, France
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven