Details:
① Artwork:
Cinnabar Green and Cadmium Red
In this oil-on-linen painting, the two titular colors are featured as one geometric shape placed inside another. Like all of the works in this series, the type of brushstroke in this painting is just as important as the paint applied to the surface.
Howard Smith primarily paints with natural light, which varies depending on the time of day and year. As such, time becomes a crucial theme in his work. The surfaces of his works get constructed by individual dots, strokes, and lines—an additive process that requires time in his application but also periods of non-action when layers are drying. The results are never predetermined, and he often leaves his artworks in a state of suspension or balanced tension.
Smith’s practice is rooted in an ongoing study of method and pattern. A member of the Radical Painting movement in the 1980s, he prioritizes interactions between brushstrokes and the canvas, carefully applying and reapplying paint to build and vary his depth of color. Smith’s artworks are intent on exploring the process of painting itself, which has led him to an always-evolving methodology.
Specs:
③ Artist:
Howard Smith’s practice is rooted in an ongoing study of method and pattern. An abstract painter, he was a member of the Radical Painting movement in the 1980s, which sought to distill painting to its essence. True to the movement’s focus on intention and creation, Smith prioritizes interactions between brushstrokes and the canvas, carefully applying and reapplying paint to build and vary his depth of color. An interest in the coalescence of form and space is apparent in his practice and particularly stands out in the diversity of his watercolor paintings. All of Smith’s artworks explore the painting process, leading him to an always-evolving methodology.
Howard Smith was born in 1943 in Chicago, IL, and lives and works in New York City, NY, and Pine Bush, NY. Smith earned his graduate degree from Stanford University in Stanford, CA (1966) and his BA from Colorado College in Colorado Springs, CO (1965).
His work has been exhibited at Williams College Art Museum, Williamstown, MA; The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in Colorado Springs, CO; Museum Liner in Appenzell, Switzerland; the Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, PA; the Kimmel Galleries at NYU in New York City, NY; The Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation in New York City, NY; the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Grenoble, France, and Magazzini Di Palazzo Gatti in Viterbo, Italy.