The first thing to know about the artist Sam McKinniss is that he loves a fake.
GREEN DREAMMcKinnisssSams Sweater,2014, oil on canvas; below: McKinnisssCow (study),2022, oil on canvas.
SUNNY DAYSLight streams into the downstairs apartment, a guest room and parlor in one.
DISTANT FRIENDSMcKinniss in front ofMonica Geller, Ross Geller, Chandler Bing, Phoebe Buffay, Joey Tribbiani, and Rachel Green,2024, oil on linen. His solo show, “The Perfect Tense,”opens in January at the David Kordansky Galleryin Los Angeles. Photographed by Stefan Ruiz. Sittings Editor: Michael Reynolds.Vogue, Winter 2025.
Its easy to imagine a lesser member of theMayflowerstaking out a homestead on the site.
It really is this amalgamation of ornate boredom.
HOUSE PROUDMcKinniss outside the home he shares with his partner, Michael Londres, in Kent, Connecticut.
GREEN DREAMMcKinniss’sSam’s Sweater,2014, oil on canvas; below: McKinniss’sCow (study),2022, oil on canvas.
STAY GOLDAnother view of the downstairs apartment.
Painting by Sam McKinniss,Mother and Calf,2022, oil on linen.
McKinniss, Stockman says, suffered no fools and had no problem being disputatious.
SUNNY DAYSLight streams into the downstairs “apartment,” a guest room and parlor in one.
He loved banter, debate, and good argument.
He loathed laziness, sloppiness, and people eating while walking on the street.
Sam has beautiful manners.
COLOR THEORYMcKinniss’s paintingCharlie Fox,2022, set off by wallpaper from Rifle Paper Co.
FACE IN THE CROWDFiona Apple,2024, oil on linen.
RED ALL OVERA nook in the kitchen, decorated with photogravure prints by Carsten Holler.
2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
SWEET DREAMSThe bedroom, with a Dorothy Draper–esque checkerboard rug.
Theres certain imagery that sticks with you, and you dont really realize how much until Sam paints it.
At the same time he started painting canvases in the mode of the 19th-century French artist Henri Fantin-Latour.
DOG DAYSThe emerald color of the living room was inspired by George Washingtons Mount Vernon.
HOUSE PROUDMcKinniss outside the home he shares with his partner, Michael Londres, in Kent, Connecticut.
A porcelain canine friend, named Molly, stands sentry at the fireplace.
Artwork on the mantel, left: Luke OHalloran,Card Flourish,2019, oil on paper.
STAR POWERPainting above the fireplace by Sam McKinniss,Angela Lansbury,2014, oil on canvas.
STAY GOLDAnother view of the downstairs “apartment.” Painting by Sam McKinniss,Mother and Calf,2022, oil on linen.
OFF THE WALLPainting above chair by Sam McKinniss,Chris,2014, oil on canvas.
Today there is no lingering evidence of any disruptive transformations.
An assortment of brass candlesticks appear timeworn; McKinniss tells me he buys them online for $5 apiece.
FACE IN THE CROWDFiona Apple,2024, oil on linen.
The windowsareantique glass, but they were purchased secondhand.
The high-gloss walls of his living room are a lacquered greeninspired by a parlor at Mount Vernon.
It would be hard to be gloomy in a room like this.
RED ALL OVERA nook in the kitchen, decorated with photogravure prints by Carsten Höller. © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
What I really wanted was a proper home out of town, McKinniss says.
The track lighting is fluorescent.
Functional storage lines the walls.
DOG DAYSThe emerald color of the living room was inspired by George Washington’s Mount Vernon. A porcelain canine friend, named Molly, stands sentry at the fireplace. Artwork on the mantel, left: Luke O’Halloran,Card Flourish,2019, oil on paper.
HARE AND AWAYArtwork by Landon Metz, dye/canvas.
2025 Landon Metz/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
But he also wants there to be evocations of loss and mourning.
STAR POWERPainting above the fireplace by Sam McKinniss,Angela Lansbury,2014, oil on canvas.
PAN TONESam McKinniss,Fawn,2022, coated bronze.
But he still surrounds himself with vivacious friends.
McKinniss makes time to visit the city too, where he and Michael keep an apartment in Tudor City.
OFF THE WALLPainting above chair by Sam McKinniss,Chris,2014, oil on canvas.
WARM WELCOMEMcKinniss with his partner, Londres.
Have the rhythms of his new life changed him?
He explains the story behind his more recent large cow paintings.
HARE AND AWAYArtwork by Landon Metz, dye/canvas. © 2025 Landon Metz/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Instead he finds himself painting cows from images he prints from the internet.
Nature rendered in pixels and transformed again, the uncannily familiar, made strange and new.
The first one I did literally was a thumbnail image of a dairy cow, he says.
PAN TONESam McKinniss,Fawn,2022, coated bronze.
Produced by Boom Productions.
WARM WELCOMEMcKinniss with his partner, Londres.
