Biography

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Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay area, Roloff graduated with honors from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1993. His paintings were exhibited in numerous galleries and shows in San Francisco in the early nineties, including the renowned Luggage Store Gallery. During this time, Roloff witnessed the birth of the Mission School art movement. Centered in the Mission District of San Francisco, the movement took its cues from mural and graffiti art and emerged from a group of Roloff’s classmates at the San Francisco Art Institute. Roloff was friends with many of the Mission School artists, but ultimately decided to pursue his own path.

Always possessing a penchant for travel, Roloff hitchhiked through Mexico and Guatemala, finding inspiration for artistic endeavors in the rich cultures and bold characters he encountered. Following his journeys in Central America, Sam lived in Prague, Czech Republic from 1994-95, where he ran a gallery and developed mastery of figurative works through his ‘Women in Prague’ series. This was a defining year for Roloff, which has influenced the arc of his career with echoes of this seminal time influencing his work today.

Three years after returning from Europe to his old San Francisco stomping grounds, Roloff married and began a family. After his first son Max was born, they moved to Chicago where his second son, Henry, was born. In 2002, the Roloff family found their way to Portland, where they currently reside; daughter Amelia was born that same year.

Today, Roloff finds as much inspiration at home with his beautiful family as he once did in prestigious art school or circling the globe. He credits his children with bringing a fresh perspective and a sense of whimsy to his work, keeping his paintings fluid, rather than fixed and unchanging.

Roloff’s artistic influences are not limited to a certain country or time period, but rather are drawn from a span of artists, styles, and movements, including Picasso, with his absolute devotion to his craft, Max Ernst’s surrealism, Hieronymus Bosch’s hypnotic detail, and Andy Warhol’s portraits, color, and cultural influence.

Now happily settled in the Portland area, Sam continues to push into new territory with paintings that blend abstract expressionism within the landscape, and with surrealist figurative works that seem to breathe and interact with the viewer through an unsettling and whimsical presence. The quality of his rendering is delicate and forthright at the same time, and is supported by a surface that speaks volumes about what lies beneath.

With numerous exhibits to his credit from 1991 to the present, Sam is highly engaged with his community and has several shows and events scheduled throughout the coming year, including a live painting demonstration and show and a group exhibit at Pioneer Place in Portland in December, 2011. Sam also regularly donates work to causes and organizations that benefit the community at large, including Children’s Healing Art Project and Cascade Aids Project.