Art by Mitchel Smith
Mitchel Smith was born in Liverpool, England, 1959. He was educated in Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada, and New York. He belongs to a group of Canadian abstract artists influenced by European early modernists at the turn of the 20th century, and modernists from New York during the 1950s and 60s.
...
For Mitchel Smith, a good painting not only communicates pure feeling, but also appears artlessly simple. Moreover, the work must have enough substance to provide constant pleasure over time. Them more intuitive the process is, he believes, the more effortless the result will appear. Them more deeply and honestly the artist reaches into himself, the more enduring will be the final work.
What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter, an art which might be for every mental worker, be he businessman or writer, like an appeasing infulence, like a mental soother, something like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue. (Henri Matisse, Notes d'un peintre, La Grande Revue, Paris, December 25, 1908)
Like Matisse, Smith wants to make paintings that offer respite, celebrate life, and provide pleasure. Smith's pleasure is not one that is derived from critical discourse; instead, it is rooted in the realm of intuition and emotion. The eight works in this exhibition rely on texture and hue to communicate moods of joy and serenity. Using a combination of luminous colour, thickly layered surfaces and fluid brush strokes, he aims to create a mood of related sensuality - an armchair for the mind and soul.
[Elizabeth Kidd]
