Artmaking became an act of healing for Kevin Sampson after the tragic personal loss of lives close to him. Now a retired police officer living in Newark, New Jersey, Sampson collects ephemera and discarded objects from the streets and creates sculptural portraits, or tributes to people. Blue Meat considers aspects of personal history, survival, and spirituality. The title comes from conversations between the artist and his Southern father, who shared memories of eating the “blue” meat of crows to survive the hardships of the Depression. Repulsed yet fascinated, Sampson recognized the spiritual dimension of crows, an intangible quality he was then exploring through a series of three artworks. He fixed on the idea of using organic materials that had once been living, and whose animus would infuse the work with a sort of magic. According to the artist, “This particular piece deals with the Garden of Eden and the apple. If you look inside . . . I have constructed the biblical Garden of Eden complete with miniature landscape and waterfalls. This piece is in fact a biblical landscape.”

Stacy C. Hollander, "Blue Meat," exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.