"I remember very insignificant things that now come to me with a wave of emotion, a longing for someone I used to be. Things as simple as a distinct chlorine and laundry smell bring me back to when I was 7, wet from my neighbor's blue inflatable pool, eating ice cream as I sit with a damp towel on the living room carpet watching Pokémon. I see Halloween decorations in the store, and I can remember the feeling of excitement, a flutter in my chest, an anticipation for a great event of one night of dressing up with friends and gathering candy. The smell of pumpkin warmed by a candle’s flame follows us throughout the neighborhood. I can't remember conversations we had but I remember the feeling…the look…the smell. The memories blur together to create an amalgamation of true happiness. Happiness felt so easy, it came so naturally." -Samantha Schneider

A recent graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA), Schneider double majored in painting and drawing. During her time at CIA she received excellence in studio practice along with the Eastman (1912)-Bolton Memorial Prize, Mary Seymour Brooks Scholarship for Painting and Liza Noble '48 Scholarship for Excellence in Painting. Her work is highly autobiographical; drawing on narratives of growth through trauma, learning to love the ever changing aspects of self, and purging past experiences through cryptic modern symbolism. Schneider is her own muse, creating large scale portraiture that features different versions of herself as the protagonist. Bright, colorful, and dreamlike features create a juxtaposition of childlike wonder and ominous, unsettling messages.

My work is a biographical, following a series of events floating through life as moments blur together, struggling to make human connections. Self-doubt and attachment issues caused by childhood traumas of mental and verbal abuse and the change that occurred growing up, developing into a more confident and strong human being.

That suffering is growth, the struggles and sadness have developed into strength and changed my character for the better. Previous works I had depicted myself as others, changing my appearance to feel more comfortable so that people would like me more. I depict who I am and events that have shaped me through the use of modern symbolism such as emojis, object, symbolism and text – recreating events that stood out to be moments where change in myself came after they occurred and viewed through the aesthetic lenses of weirdcore, dreamcore and synthwave as a mode of cryptic communication.

The aesthetics I am using are known for their connections to suppression of trauma, suffering and confusion that are brought out through bright colorful and dreamlike features that create a juxtaposition of childlike wonder and ominous, unsettling messages. The themes follow loss of self, depression and learning to love the not-so-easily-loveable aspects within.