Works
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir, 2025
    charcoal on paper
    carboncillo sobre papel
    45 1/4 x 59 in
    115 x 150 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir, 2019
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir, 2019
    charcoal on paper
    carboncillo sobre papel
    45 1/4 x 59 in
    115 x 150 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir, 2019
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir, 2019
    charcoal on paper
    carboncillo sobre papel
    45 1/4 x 59 in
    115 x 150 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir: Be like watermelon, 2020
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir: Be like watermelon, 2020
    charcoal on paper
    carboncillo sobre papel
    23 1/4 x 33 1/8 in
    59 x 84 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir: The Optimist, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir: The Optimist, 2025
    charcoal and white pastel on paper
    carboncillo y pastel blanco sobre papel
    115 x 150cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir, 2025
    charcoal and white pastel on paper
    carboncillo y pastel blanco sobre papel
    45 1/4 x 59 in
    115 x 150 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir, 2025
    charcoal and white pastel on paper
    carboncillo y pastel blanco sobre papel
    45 1/4 x 59 in
    115 x 150 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir: The Singer II, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir: The Singer II, 2025
    charcoal and white pastel on paper
    carboncillo y pastel blanco sobre papel
    45 1/4 x 59 in
    115 x 150 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir: The Singer I, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir: The Singer I, 2025
    charcoal and white pastel on paper
    carboncillo y pastel blanco sobre papel
    40 1/8 x 59 in
    102 x 150 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir: The Singer 3, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir: The Singer 3, 2025
    charcoal and white pastel on paper
    carboncillo y pastel blanco sobre papel
    39 x 57 1/8 in
    99 x 145 cm

    framed
    106 x 152cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir, 2025
    charcoal and white pastel on paper
    carboncillo y pastel blanco sobre papel
    34 1/2 x 66 7/8 in
    87.5 x 170 cm
  • Sam Kaprielov, Art Noir: Interpretation of dreams II, 2025
    Sam Kaprielov
    Art Noir: Interpretation of dreams II, 2025
    fusain et pastel blanc sur papier
    45 1/4 x 59 in
    115 x 150 cm

    framed
    122 x 157 cm
Biography

 

Sam Kaprielov (b. 1971 in Ventspils, Latvia) is a contemporary artist whose practice explores identity, memory, and the fragile boundaries between the real and the fantastical. Based in London, he is known for his dense, atmospheric pastel drawings, where child pirates, wartime imagery, sea creatures, and allegorical figures collide in scenes that reflect the perpetual battles of everyday life.
 
Trained in a Soviet art school, Kaprielov brings a refined command of European visual traditions, particularly commercial and propaganda illustration, to his deeply personal worlds, often tinged with a noir atmosphere. His “Felliniesque misfits,” as he calls them, emerge from an intuitive process inspired by “napkins, portholes, turtles, bunkers, desert… anything,” while at the same time referring to “nothing outside of themselves.” Each drawing functions like a discarded frame from an imagined film, revealing a smoky, shifting psychological landscape.

Kaprielov has exhibited widely across Europe, with a particularly strong presence in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and France. Notable projects include the Shore Leave exhibition in London in 2009 and his participation in Vous avez dit bizarre in Paris in 2020. His work often resonates with the cultural and historical contexts of the places where it is presented, while remaining anchored in his Latvian heritage and lived experience.
Exhibitions