Sam Francis

A few months ago I found myself burnt out and decided to take a break from Dressed To Match until I felt truly inspired to create a new one. Even though I enjoyed the challenge of matching mostly murals during the pandemic, I really do love balancing them with matches inside museums. There’s just something really exciting about matching a famous artist’s work!

I’m really proud of this new match with Sam Francis’ painting Untitled, 1979. Here’s a little backstory on why it means so much to me:

It seems like I’ve always had a connection to Sam Francis' work. In fact, my earliest memory of a piece of art was in the early 90's (I was probably 4?) while furniture shopping with my parents at Weinstocks in Downtown Plaza, located in Sacramento. The department store had two enormous Sam Francis paintings hanging near the escalators (very similar to the one in this match with the grid!) and for some reason, I can still see those paintings in my mind's eye with so much clarity.

Looking back, it's kind of odd to think that I have such a vivid memory of these two seemingly random paintings - especially since I first saw them as a very young child! So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that the Palm Springs Art Museum has an incredibly similar Sam Francis painting in their permanent collection!

Finding the dress for the match was easy compared to others because I have had this old Milly dress bookmarked for years. While searching on Poshmark for a used one in my size, I was lucky enough to connect with a woman named Janet, who very graciously LENT the dress to me for this match! I’m still blown away by her kindness and generosity.

A huge thanks to both Janet and my girl Mari who shot this - thank you both for helping me create this special new memory with Sam Francis.