Mississippi-based conservative artist Samuel Ingram has become an internet sensation after an all-night painting session resulted in a massively popular depiction of the late Charlie Kirk. Ingram, who goes by the name of Sam Ryan on social media, produced the work over the course of a 12-hour marathon stint in his studio on the evening of Kirk’s assassination.
The painting depicts Charlie Kirk in a reflective stare, hands pressed together in front of his face, evoking the idea that the prominent Christian influencer was engaged in deep thought or prayer. Surrounded by a striking red background and prominent blues and whites, the image based on a popular photograph instantly became a patriotic classic.
It also resulted in Ingram losing an estimated tens of thousands of followers almost instantly. The artist didn’t do the painting for followers; he did them out of a desire to honor Kirk’s tragic death and legacy as a Christian and conservative activist. Still, his politics were not unknown to fans so the unfollowing is also seen as bizarre. Ingram had already touched on overtly political themes, even depicting Donald Trump’s brush with his own assassination in July of 2024.
Interestingly, that latter artwork got Ingram in touch with Kirk directly, as the Turning Point USA founder reached out and expressed an interest in buying a print. Little did the two know that their paths would cross again, unfortunately in wildly horrific circumstances as the artist would be honoring a slain husband and father with a piece of beautiful, viral art.
According to Fox News, Ingram recounted the communication with the late Kirk. “His DM said, ‘I love it, man. I need to get this for the studio. When are you doing a print of it?'” recalled Ryan. “And that was the last thing I heard from him.”
Speaking about the painting, the conservative artist said his motivations were inescapably political, as he shared similar values with Kirk, but that he also just wanted to memorialize him with his unique skillset.”I wanted to do him a service,” he said. “The best way I could was to memorialize him for everybody to see and add to his legacy, especially with the reference photo that I used from Dan Fleuette of Charlie praying.
“All for painting somebody I had a personal connection with. It wasn’t really a political statement, even though I am conservative…It was more of a personal sentiment for his family and something God’s given me the ability to do — to paint and do portraiture in the style that I do that attracts attention somehow,” he added.
The tribute wasn’t without pushback. The artist said that he lost 44,000 followers on Instagram, and collectively, over 100,000 social media users unfollowed him across all his platforms, including Facebook and TikTok. And as if that weren’t bad enough, Ingram said the death threats haven’t stopped in over a month since revealing his tribute. The tolerant left strikes again.
In total, as viewed by simply a social media response, Ingram estimates he lost over 100,000 followers across platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. At the same time, he says he has gained multiples of those losses across each of the same platforms.
Take a look at the finished Kirk piece of art below:
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video