San Francisco’s SAM FLORES has been a bit of a shadow of late, keeping a low profile and grinding away in the studio. After catching a sneek peek of his new solo show, “Senso to Heiwa” (War & Peace) set to debut at Philly’s LINEAGE GALLERY this Friday, November 16th, it’s safe to say the woodshedding paid off. For this thematic show, Flores has filtered his thoughts on the current political climate through the lens of the ancient Samurai wars and his stylized rendering has been mated with the flat decorative elements of traditional Japanese Rimpa painters like Ōgata Kōrin in an ambitious updating of traditional art from Japan’s Edo period. In this imagined world, Flores’ trademark heavy-handed characters don traditional Japanese garb (along with limited-edition Nike kix) and are set loose on an Read the rest of this entry »