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These sculptural paintings leverage my intuition, knowledge of gravity and physics -- beyond aesthetic awareness and facility with sculptural material and tools. Some viewers interpret the works as sinew, muscle, bone and respond to the surface tension created in the space. Others have felt haunted, as if they were visiting another time in history. Both experiences hold truth. The tension reveals itself through the addition and subtraction of layered form and texture. I grapple with thoughts on pigmentation and the dialogue between adding color to reflect emotional content, or relying on structure and form to tell the story. How much of the story wants to be told? I fluctuate between wanting to expose everything and wanting to remain behind the repair work, mending and memory.
In this piece, titled Recall, the knowledge that every sculptural work in this series is both body and earth comes quietly forward. Where does the earth end and my body begin? Where does your body begin and where does it end? How can we be both.
Recall, 2023, 96” x144” plaster, gauze, mixed media, pumice, acrylic on canvas.
Follow on Instagram for more documentation of the process @laurendanasmithart
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




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