From the middle of a gridded construction product of striped orbs and rectangular shapes are two components redolent of eyes. Seeming to see out from the largely summary composition, these facial options are augmented by varieties that mimic ears, noses, and mouths all nested inside the vivid patterns.
The work of Chicago-based artist Geoffrey Todd Smith, these ambiguous portraits rendered in gouache and ink reference masks or mirrored reflections, revealing a distant determine and not using a outlined id. “To be honest, I keep thinking of them as evolving forms,” he tells Colossal. “I try to find new things in them when I look at them. I’m not entirely sure I want to figure them out because I probably won’t want to make them if I understand them.”
Frequently drawn to abstraction and geometry, Smith is thought for his mesmerizing works that infuse elaborate, usually zigzagged motifs with easy constructions. Vibrant spheres appear to spill throughout the paper, creating trippy, symmetric compositions bursting with vitality.
The artist departs from pure abstraction on this new physique of labor as he incorporates humanoid parts amid his interlocked shapes. Geometry nonetheless offers a scaffolding, although. He provides:
If there’s a break from logic, that sense of order can shortly collapse, creating rigidity, type of like eradicating the underside items in a sport of Jenga. Both method, geometry helps me assemble a type of sport board to which I reply with extra ornamental or decorative selections. Even the ornamental hand-drawn components play an optical and structural function. They both assert or intervene with order, relying on how I manipulate them.
These decorative additions are the product of a sluggish, introspective course of. Smith prefers to not combine colours and as an alternative layers supplies to realize a specific palette.
“The mark from a gel pen is so immediate and relatable. I like that they were marketed to teenagers because nobody feels quite as deeply as they do at that age,” he says. “I think of the intensity and rigor of my marks as mysterious emoting or like writing a gut-wrenching, abstract love letter.”
Should you’re in Chicago, you possibly can see Smith’s solo present Meeting at Western Exhibitions by April 12. In any other case, discover extra of his work on his web site and Instagram.
