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T. Smith

The aim is to see…
That which others don’t notice
​Reveal it to them
 
Conceptual art is defined as “art that is intended to convey an idea or concept to the perceiver and need not involve the creation or appreciation of a traditional art object such as a painting or sculpture”.  For me, conceptual art cannot retain its dramatic effect precisely because regardless of the intended impact there is nothing left behind to fasten the concepts to.  This is why I choose to work as a painter and also why the statement “a picture is worth a thousand words” will always be true.  I believe in taking the strong ideas behind a conceptual piece and assigning them a visual ideogram that acts as a key for understanding the concept.  I feel that art should have a specific statement to make that is larger than the visual elements but that which can also be distilled down to a tangible symbol. 

Governments know this and it’s called propaganda.
Churches know this and it’s called religion.
Corporations know this and it’s called advertising.
Artists know this and it’s called Truth. 

The visual physical world is connected in subtle ways that can be easily overlooked.   I work from my own photographs to discover the connections between seemingly disparate elements that combine to form a greater reality than their independent parts. I transform actual visual images into a third-generation idea from physical reality to camera to canvas.  I am interested in the underlying associations formed by the repetition of shapes and lines from not only material forms but also those of transient matter such as shadows and reflections operating on the same visual plane in a realistic abstraction. 
 
I am interested in conceptual painting with technical facility, beauty and emotion combining abstractive elements within realism.  My intent is to strive for fulfillment in every element concurrently providing a strong vehicle to carry a belief through the painting to the viewer while making an aesthetic contribution.  I do not work in a series but believe that each painting is autonomous and stands alone as a symbol or “glyph” encoded with multiple interpretations subjective to the particular observer.  The individual paintings come organically one at a time and it is only later that I realize some of them are actually siblings. 
 
The imagery in my work may appear to be surrealistic but it is derived solely from elements actually experienced in a conscious visual state rather than the emphasis placed on the subconscious and automatism that surrealism was founded on.  While I am influenced by surrealist juxtapositions, I consider myself a Patternist primarily interested in the affinities of emerging connections when taken as a whole.  Patternism is reality viewed as a wave rather than a particle.  I believe that there is infinitely much more to conscious waking reality and my goal is to show glimpses of the structure behind that reality. 
 
I aspire to create art rooted in representation yet perceived in an entirely different organization, for example as with Cubism, Pointillism and Impressionism. These movements embody physical reality but from a completely dissimilar facet.  For me, abstraction can never come close to revealing the mysteries of the physical world in which we live, while painting that remains embedded in representation can

Hours | Phone

Tue-Sat 10-6, Sun 1-5
713.522.2409

Location

2305 Dunlavy
Houston, TX 77006

Artist Owned Since 1976

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  • Purchase Art
  • Exhibitions
    • Upcoming Exhibitions
    • Past Exhibitions
      • 2022
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
      • 2014
      • 2013
      • 2012
      • 2011
      • 2010
      • 2009
      • 2008
    • Annual Juried Exhibitions
      • Archway 14th Annual Juried Exhibition 2022
      • Archway 13th Annual Juried Exhibition 2021
  • Events
    • Archway Readers
    • Empty Bowls Houston
    • Figure Drawing Sessions
    • Jewelry Trunk Show
    • Music Events
  • Gallery Rental
  • How We Art
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Join Archway
    • Gallery Video
    • Privacy Policy