SAMDI

SAMDI is a Miami-based Haitian painter whose work centers on the human figure and portraiture. He studied graphic design and advertising at the Miami Ad School and spent years working in commercial design in Haiti before turning to painting after the 2010 earthquake. Without formal painting training, he first worked with blades, charcoal and industrial tools to shorten the distance between himself and the canvas, later blending raw blade work with deliberate brushstrokes and custom-mixed palettes. Each canvas begins as an intuitive conversation with material. His paintings draw on the Haitian art that filled the homes of his youth, joining the raw, spiritual urgency of the Saint-Soleil movement, particularly Jean-Claude "Tiga" Garoute, with the lyrical line of School of Beauty painters such as Bernard Séjourné. His solo exhibition "What We Carry" at Stanek Gallery, Miami, reflects on home, memory and displacement.