My goal as a Fine Artist is to create Figurative Landscapes, that illicit the inner emotions of personal experience through the context of symbolic imagery, whose storytelling and style are drawn from the Masters of American Realism, French Impressionism, and Surrealism.

To help achieve an allegorical dialogue between the work and the viewer, the canvases are painted in a glowing pallet of bright colors to create an ethereal effect. My imagery embraces an assortment of subjects including the transitory nature of the 20th Centuries Industrial Age of the U.S. Juxtaposing rusting relics of that era resting in repose in a field of spring flowers, creating a metaphor for the passage of time.

Another theme I have embraced is the spiritual significance of religion in rural America. Using religious edifices as symbols of faith, as in my painting titled Alice, which received the following review of my first one man show in TriBeca, NY: “Alice a dog running through the snow in picturesque New England backlit by the ethereal sun, casting a shadow on the dog while passing through a church steeple. This show left me with a sense of subtle manipulations; that juxtaposed on canvas, by Mr. Kaplan, left an indelible stamp on my psyche. Bravo, I recommend this show.”

The old railroad trains of Long Islands South Fork provided me with an intriguing opportunity to record a historical moment before their demise and replacement. As reviewed by Robert Long, curator Guild Hall, East Hampton at a group show at Millennium Gallery (The Southampton Press, May 9, 1996): “Sam Kaplan, whose Crossroads, Speonk is the most arresting single work in the show. This is an intensely Surrealist picture in which Long Island Railroad trains, all painted in an unrealistic deep blue are seen head-on. Each is located on a different track, and the distance from the train to viewer increases from left to right. There’s an ominous feel to this picture not unlike the queasiness in some Magritte images.”

At the present, I am working on a suite of paintings based on Coney Island’s Neon Playground and its colorful inhabitants along with paintings of the city’s Theatrical Institutions, including a work titled Apollo Sunrise that features a workman either installing or removing “Amateur Night” graphics from the theatre’s marquee.