1993 - living and working in California.
1955 Born New York, NY

Education

1981 M.F.A, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1977 B.F.A, Cooper Union, New York, NY
1967-71 Studies at The Art Students League of New York, NY

Honors

1996 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Award
1995 Englehard Foundation Program in Bequia
1993 Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant
Purchase Award and Exhibition, Academy of Arts and Letters
1985 The Engelhard Award, Cambridge, MA
1984 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant
1982-84 National Studio Program, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY
1981-82 Fellowship, The Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA
1980 Grant for Painting, The Ford Foundation, New York, NY.
Phelps Berdan Award for Painting, Yale University, New Haven, CT
1977 Ethel Cram Memorial Prize for Painting, Cooper Union, New York, NY
1974 Fellowship, Skowhengan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhengan, ME

Selected Bibliography, 1990-Present

Anon "Critics Choice," The New York Times, December 23, 1994.
Cotter,Holland. "Sam Messer," ArtNews, March 1990, vol. 89, no. 3.
Gerrit, Henry. "Sam Messer," ArtNews, September, 1991.
"Sam Messer," Art in America, March 1990.
Johnson,Denis and Gaver, Eleanor E. "One Man by Himself: Portraits of Jon Serl by Sam Messer," exhibition catalog, Hard Press, Inc., West Stockbridge, MA.
Litt, Steven. "Using or Abusing a Powerful Symbol?," The Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 8, 1991.
Mahoney, Robert. "Sam Messer," Arts Magazine, January 1990, vol. 64, no. 5.
Masters, Greg "Grisly Grandeur: Sam Messer," Cover, Summer 1991.
Morris, Randall "Self Taught Ethics: Regarding Culture," New Art Examiner, September 1994.
Pacheco, Patrick. "The New Faith in Painting," Art & Antiques, May 1991.
Piazza, Robert. "Nielsen Art Shocks," Heights, 1991.
Princenthal, Nancy "Sam Messer," Art in America, June 1994.
"Sam Messer," The Boston Herald, November 19, 1992.
Raczka, Robert. "Five Painters," New Art Examiner (East Coast Edition), March 1984, vol. II, no. 6. Rubinstein, Raphael. "Sam Messer," Art News, September 1991.

Selected Public Collections

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Archer J. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, TX
BankAmerica Corporation Art Collection, San Francisco, CA
Criterion Investment Management Company of America, Houson, TX
David Winton Bell Gallery, List Art Center, Brown University, Providence, RI
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL
McCrory Corporation, New York, NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico
Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY
Paine Webber, New York, NY
Prudential Insurance Company, Newark, NJ
Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Wellington Management, Boston, MA
Yale University Art Gallery Museum, New Haven, CT