Druze artist Sam Halaby to debut major exhibition, ‘The Color Hunter,’ in Miami

Internationally acclaimed Druze artist Sam Halaby will present his latest solo exhibition, “The Color Hunter,” for the first time in the United States at CONTEXT Art Miami — held December 2-7, 2025 — under the representation of Tribes Art Gallery.

CONTEXT Art Miami, considered the most important week for contemporary art in the United States, creates a dynamic dialogue between artists, galleries and collectors, offering a premier showcase for groundbreaking talent. The fair provides leading artists with crucial international exposure and a platform to advance their work globally.

Druze artist Sam Halaby is known as the Color Hunter

Halaby, widely known as the Color Hunter, has become a distinctive figure in the local and regional art scene with growing international recognition. His artistic practice is deeply rooted in the cultural fabric of Daliyat al-Carmel, the Druze village in northern Israel where he was born and where he maintains his home and studio. His work reflects a broader contemporary trend: transforming domestic space into a living, immersive artwork that blurs traditional boundaries between art, architecture, design and environment.

Sam Halaby

(Photo: Courtesy)

Situated on a hill overlooking the village, Halaby’s house is visible from afar. Created in defiance of conventional museum norms, accessibility standards and community expectations, the House of Colors adds vibrant energy to the rural landscape, delighting visitors and bringing joy to all who encounter it. Rather than selling the valuable property, Halaby transformed it into a complete artistic environment — a decision rooted in a silent dialogue with his late father that proved prescient. The House of Colors has attracted more than one million visitors in two years and has become a viral cultural destination, reaching hundreds of millions across social-media platforms.

‘The Warm Corner ‘- oil on canvas 200*120cm 2024

(Photo: Courtesy)

His approach recalls Frida Kahlo’s Casa Azul, where her personal, cultural and political identity found physical expression. Like Kahlo, Halaby uses vivid colors, recycled materials, symbolism, and folk elements to articulate the complexities of identity. As a member of the Druze community — an ethnic and religious minority in a country shaped by migration and conflict — his art navigates tensions between tradition and modernity, center and periphery, individual and collective experience.

‘Piano’ – oil on canvas 2025

(Photo: Courtesy)

Halaby paints in thousands of hues, using powerful drips and bold splashes to create rich textures across large canvases and architectural surfaces. His technique has drawn comparisons to Jackson Pollock’s drip painting, though their intentions differ: Pollock emphasized subconscious action, while Halaby emphasizes creation, emotional resonance and cultural identity articulated through color. His expressive lineage also echoes the fluidity of Sam Francis, influenced by Zen and Eastern art, and the emotionally charged, intuitive work of Joan Mitchell.

Halaby’s Miami exhibition unfolds as a multilayered visual journey reflecting his spiritual migration between light and shadow, joy and contemplation. The works, drawn from various periods of his creative life, highlight an ongoing dialogue between explosive color and the quiet power of black and white — moments when silence speaks loudly.

Tree of Life acrylic and oil on canvas 120*130cm 2025

Visitors are invited to traverse dozens of canvases as if moving through shifting states of consciousness, discovering in each brushstroke the desire not only to depict reality as it appears, but as it is experienced. In Halaby’s work, color becomes language, form becomes emotion and art becomes a window into social, cultural and personal depth.

Blossom – oil, acrylic and mix media on canvas 240*170cm 2025

Within this body of work, Halaby’s recurring motifs — especially trees — carry layers of symbolic meaning. His colorful trees and flowers embody vitality, growth and renewal. As the tenth child after nine sisters, Halaby expresses through these images his sense of individuality, independence and the fresh creative spirit he brings to his village’s artistic tradition. His childhood memories of the Carmel landscape inform the paintings, serving as metaphors for hope, spiritual searching and a yearning for unity.

In contrast, his black-and-white tree paintings serve as spaces for reflection, memory and the complexities of identity. At times they evoke alienation or loss. The absence of color can also be interpreted as commentary on a polarized social and political reality, a world in which emotional presence is diminished. Through the tension between intense color and monochromatic calm, Halaby creates a dialogue between past and present, personal and collective identity, hope and confronting reality.

Visitors at CONTEXT Art Miami will also be able to experience Halaby’s interactive installation “Coloring Our Lives,” in which participants literally step into his colorful world and are painted in a spectrum of shades representing optimism, hope, love and innocence. According to the gallery, mayors, singers, artists and the general public have already taken part in this uniquely participatory encounter.

Abysses – oil, acrylic and mix media on canvas 130*130cm 2025

Halaby’s large studio sits in the commercial heart of Daliyat al-Carmel, embedding his practice in daily life and inviting the community into his artistic process. “Here I am, among you,” he often says. The House of Colors extends this philosophy: art is not meant to stand apart but to belong to the rhythms of communal life. His approach shows how domestic space can become a site for cultural preservation and subtle protest against exclusion or marginalization.

The Forest oil and mix media on canvas 30*60cm 2025

This vision places him in the lineage of artists who turned their homes into living artworks, including Salvador Dalí’s surreal museum-house and Niki de Saint Phalle’s monumental Tarot Garden. Like them, Halaby embraces the idea of a Gesamtkunstwerk — a total work of art that integrates environment, emotion and imagination.

Feelings – oil, acrylic and mix media on canvas 250*190cm 2025

Halaby’s work resonates with a new generation of collectors, including tech entrepreneurs, alongside established art patrons. His vibrant, emotion-driven style and community-embedded practice have contributed to the rise of Daliyat al-Carmel as a cultural landmark, boosting local businesses and serving as a model for artistic impact within minority communities.

The Forest oil and mix media on canvas 250*250cm 2025

Tuesday, December 2 – 16:00-21:00

Wednesday, December 3 – 11:00-19:00

Thursday, December 4 – 11:00-19:00

Friday, December 5 – 11:00-19:00

Saturday, December 6 – 11:00-19:00

Sunday, December 7 – 11:00-18:00