"This is the story of relationships . . ." - Paul Auster

"Fear Not", is an exhibition of work spanning 25 years by Sam Messer. His passion for portraits of artists, typewriters, bridges and even tyrants will come to life through this exhibition. Among the selection of iconic paintings and sculptures, is a short animated film titled, YEAR OF THE COCK, which document Messer's repose to the first 100 days of the Trump administration. 

Sam Messer received a B.F.A. from Cooper Union in 1976 and an M.F.A. from Yale University in 1982. He is represented by Nielsen Gallery, Boston, and Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles. His work may be found in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Art Institute of Chicago, and Yale University Art Gallery.

Messer has received awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant in 1984, the Engelhard Award in 1985, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in 1993, and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996. He has recently collaborated with Paul Auster on The Story of My Typewriter, and with Denis Johnson on Cloud of Chalk. He was appointed senior critic at Yale in 1994 and in 2005 was appointed associate dean and professor (adjunct). He also serves as director of the art division of the Yale Summer School of Music and Art in Norfolk.

This exhibition coincides with the Wadsworth Atheneum's presentation of Sam Messer's "Denis the Pirate", open now though February 11, 2018 in Hartford, Ct.