ENDANGERED SPECIES OF OTHER KINDS - A FIGURATIVE ABSTRACTION
The complex contradictions at the core of the human psyche are the central concerns of Angela Smith's abstracted figurative paintings.
Disrupting the surface of the canvas, pouring and restricting paint over and over. The paint will flood, ooze,trickle and pool, allowing space for unpredictability and the unexpected, seeking a precarious balance between control and chance.
This process-based work starts with no set outcome; building up materiality before harnessing it.
Selected Group Exhibition
Modern Artists Gallery 2016-2018/2019/2020/21/22/2023/2024
Reality Departure, Lacey Contemporary Gallery, London
Chinese Whispers, Karin Janssen, London. Touring to Galerie Nasty Alice, Eindhoven
Seams, Hoxton Arches, Shoreditch, London
The Tribe Prize, Edgar Modern, Bath
Paint Like You Mean It, Interview Room 11, Edinburgh
Painting Selected for hanging at The Royal Academy Sumer Exhibition 2022
Prize and Award
Shortlisted for The Tribe Prize, Edgar Modern, Bath
Shared Space Residency, Blue Monkey Network
Shortlisted for the IR11 Painting Prize, Edinburgh
Artist Statement
The contradictions between the way we look and the way we feel are central to my practice. I pour and disrupt paint over and over again, seeking a precarious balance between control and chance. My three-dimensional paintings range from fully abstract works with taught distended skins full of heavy coagulated paint to strange creature-like forms.
Each painting starts with enamel and gloss paint poured into pools with no preconceived outcome. I am mesmerised by the way the paint floods, oozes, coils and dances as it falls. Bold strong colours bleed, repel and collide to create unpredictable and unexpected reactions. The pressure of gravity combined with the tilting of canvases begins the formation of shapes and contours. I build layer after layer creating surface tension, which varies from mirror-like smoothness to highly textured wrinkles and furrows.
Containment of paint is important in my abstract paintings. The sculptural protrusions may look fragile and ready to burst but they are strong, encasing their innards in an impermeable outer shell. This enveloping signifies the shielding of emotions and the masking of anxiety and unease. Providing a place of safety to listen, watch, consider and contemplate. However, on occasion, the structures will fail in their making, paint slumps, and partially escapes leaving a deflated skin and traces of strength behind. This transparency is at the forefront in my creature paintings, whose subjects feel no need to take shelter. They are feisty challenging and wilful; their attitude is key. Free from inhibitions they embrace their faults and imperfections. Angela Smith
ISOLATED 43x43cm Mixed Medium on Canvas £1,000.
REFLECT 43x43cm Mixed Medium on panel £1,000
OPPOSED 43x43cm Mixed Medium on Canvas £1,000
TURBULENCE 43x43cm Mixed Medium on Canvas £1,000
FARAWAY - £550 26x26cms Mixed Medium on Panel - Available to view in gallery
BLACK AND BLUE - £1,000 - 43 x 43cm
Gloss and Enamel Paint on Canvas. Not in gallery
CIRCUITOUS - £1,000 43 x 43cm
Gloss and Enamel Paint on Canvas. Not in gallery
RELISH - £1,000 - 43x43cm - Mixed Medium on Canvas
EYE WITNESS - 26x26cms - Mixed Medium on Panel-No longer available.
From Endangered Selection
SWEET TALK - £1,000 - 43 x 43cm
Gloss and Enamel Paint on canvas Not in gallery
SANCTUARY - 120 x 93cm POA
Gloss and Enamel Paint on Canvas. Not in gallery
SILENCER - 43x43cm - £1,000
Gloss and Enamel Paint on canvas. Not in gallery
CONFINED - £1,000 - Not in gallery
43 x 43cm Gloss and Enamel Paint on Canvas
FULL - £1,000 - 43 x 43cm - Gloss and Enamel Paint on Canvas
WONDER - £1,000 - Enamel and Gloss on Canvas - 43 x 43cm
Not in gallery
SLIVER - Gloss and Enamel on Wood - 26 x 26cm £550.
Not in gallery
Angela Smith - Archives
A Favourite Title - Solo Exhibition at Modern Artists Gallery - Archive 2014
LOOK OUT - Archives
Cover Up /Etching
Angela Smith Archives
Modern Artists Gallery Solo Exhibition
Angela Smith - Archives
Angela Smith Archives
Gallery Exhibtion Featuring Angela Smith Paintings & Mark Hall Sculpture
Modern Artists Gallery Image - featuring artists Angela Smith,Paul Wright,Kate Kessling,Stuart Buchanan,Frances Goddard,Mark Hall
