Sam Bassett 'One-And-All'

S a m B a sS asm Be a sts e t | On e -nA de - A- l lA n d - A l l

“Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss. A dangerous across, a dangerous 

on-the-way, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous shuddering and stopping. 

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture 

and a going under. 

I love those who do not know how to live, except by going under, for they are those who cross over. 

I love the great despisers because they are the great reverers and arrows of longing for the other shore. 

I love those who do not first seek behind the stars for a reason to go under and be a sacrifice, but who 

sacrifice themselves for the earth, that the earth may some day become the overman’s. 

I love him who lives to know, and who wants to know so that the overman may live some day. And thus he 

wants to go under. 

I love him who works and invents to build a house for the overman and to prepare earth, animal, and plant 

for him: for thus he wants to go under. 

I love him who loves his virtue, for virtue is the will to go under and an arrow of longing. 

I love him who does not hold back one drop of spirit for himself, but wants to be entirely the spirit of his virtue: 

thus he strides over the bridge as spirit. 

I love him who makes his virtue his addiction and his catastrophe: for his virtue’s sake he wants to live on 

and to live no longer. 

I love him who does not want to have too many virtues. One virtue is more virtue than two, because it is more 

of a noose on which his catastrophe may hang.

I love him whose soul squanders itself, who wants no thanks and returns none: for he always gives away and 

does not want to preserve himself. 

I love him who is abashed when the dice fall to make his fortune, and asks, ‘Am I then a crooked gambler?’ 

For he wants to perish. 

I love him who casts golden words before his deeds and always does even more than he promises: for he wants 

to go under. 

I love him who justifies future and redeems past generations: for he wants to perish of the present. 

I love him who chastens his god because he loves his god: for he must perish of the wrath of his god. 

I love him whose soul is deep, even in being wounded, and who can perish of a small experience: thus he goes 

gladly over the bridge. 

I love him whose soul is overfull so that he forgets himself, and all things are in him: thus all things spell his 

going under. 

I love him who has a free spirit and a free heart: thus his head is only the entrails of his heart, but his heart 

drives him to go under. 

I love all those who are as heavy drops, falling one by one out of the dark cloud that hangs over men: they 

herald the advent of lightning, and, as heralds, they perish. 

Behold, I am a herald of the lightning and a heavy drop from the cloud; but this lightning is called overman.” 

Friedrich Nietzsche, ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None’, 1883 - 1885

The Spire, My Bridge 

mixed media on perspex, height 230 cm 

4

Just Us Three Now 

mixed media on perspex, 38 x 28 cm 

6

END - At The Coast 

mixed media on perspex, 22 x 22 cm 

7

8 

Spire and Bay 

mixed media on perspex, 15 x 8.5 cm 

Love My Bread, Love Our Wine 


Play More 

mixed media on perspex, 15 x 8.5 cm

Excitingly Prone To Failure 


Cuddling The Crap 


My Family, My Boat 


9

10 

let Me Touch Things 


You Have It All 


More Than A Fart 


Be Happy With This 


Love For Your Phone 


Out Of The Mistake Came Cash 


11

12 

Do You Know How Much Crisps Cost! 


Not All Men Need A Beard 


Shit Dad Shall Die Alone 


Weeping for Peace 


We Are All Our Own 


13

Personal Chapel (EDDY) 

mixed media, 80 x 40 cm 

14

Lost Kerenza 

concrete, 40 x 45 x 45 cm 

17

18 

Together And Tight 

mixed media on board, 29 x 21 cm 

We All Eat, She Ate Him 

mixed media on board, 29 x 21 cm

I Only Found His Shirt, Judas 


Do Not Teach The Evil 


19

Play Me, Play You, As Three Become Two 


21

Alone At Sea 


22

One-And-All 

ceramic in perspex case on stell base, 150 x 70 x 50 cm 

24

Only You, Need For Nothing More 


26

Found Her Down Town 

media on board, 183 x 122 cm 

27

28 

My Shadow Stands Alone When I Am Lost 


Swam Home Alone 

mixed media on board, 25 x 25 cm

I Love You Land | Where We Do Be 

mixed media on board, diptych, 18 x 21 cm each panel 

29

Trying To Play With A Male Fishwife 


30

I Want Your Head And Some Rioja, I Love Rioja 


32

Thinking Of You In The Bath I Was 


33

Teaching Jack To Pee Down Gwidden, We Remain Naughty Little Buggers 


34

Again And Again We Must Fail And Be, 1 - 6 

mixed media on board, 28 x 15 cm each 

37

For U, You’re father Will Never Die! Bassy 


39

Skinny Dipping Down Gwidden At Night 


40

Sam Bassett was born in St Ives and he has recently returned. The town has been his families home since 1695. 

The artistic traditions of the town had an undoubted influence over him as a young boy, but his Grandfather, a 

fisherman by trade was also a keen painter, as was his other Grandfather in Newlyn. They supported him with 

encouragement but also with painting materials. 

He now occupies a studio space at the prestigious Porthmeor studios; coincidently sitting above his Grandfather’s 

former net loft. 

His work is autobiographical, cataloguing the day to day of his life with honesty - both humour and pathos. 

Providing an insight in to his fast paced unique mind, the work displays enormous energy and experiment. His 

paintings could be described as a ‘psychological cubism’, where the inner and the outer self reveal themselves 

and coalesce. 

Over the last few years his life has had significant highs and lows. Much of his work, writing and research 

has been an attempt to seek guidance and clarity during this time. The period of lead up to the making of 

this exhibition, he recalls reading Dante’s Inferno as notable in his attempting to deal with navigating an 

unfamiliar personal path. This coincided with a rediscovery of the paintings of the Sienese School and in particular 

Duccio and Botticelli from the Florentine School. Looking at paintings and diagrams benefited Bassett’s greater 

understanding as he drew ideas from these works and delved deeper in to wider symbolism. He began 

replicating contemporary versions of the stories illustrated in these works; creating personal parables or 

parodies, the process bringing a cathartic understanding and balance, and guide to where he wants to be, as 

a person and an artist. 

Some works also take influence from closer to home specifically the artist Peter Lanyon, in particular his work 

‘The Yellow Runner’ from 1946. Lanyon painted this having just returned to St Ives, it is warm, energetic and 

joyful and Bassett felt an immediate connection. His most recent works imbue a celebratory connection to his 

home - his landscape, its community and his heritage.

Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘One-And-All’ by Sam Bassett 

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted 

in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior 

permission of the publishers 

Publication produced by Impact Printing Services (www.impactprintingservices.co.uk) 

M I L L E N N I U M 

Street-an-Pol 

St. Ives 

Cornwall 

01736 793121 

mail@millenniumgallery.co.uk 

www. m i l l e n n i u m g a l lery.co.uk

Sam Bassett 'One-And-All'

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