5/9/2002
Wendy Smith
Domo Baal, London
Lines of Thought. Domo Baal is delighted to present Wendy Smith's first solo exhibition since 1995. Wendy Smith works out of the conviction that our understanding of ourselves and the world derives, in part, from the images we make - and those images are invented, they are not given by reality.
Lines of Thought
Domo Baal is delighted to present Wendy Smith's first solo exhibition since 1995. Wendy Smith works out of the conviction that our understanding of ourselves and the world derives, in part, from the images we make - and those images are invented, they are not given by reality. If ways of seeing the world depend ultimately on how the world is represented as being, rather than the other way around, the content of a work of art is less significantly self-expressive than part of a larger cooperative enterprise whereby human beings make sensible the world they inhabit.
A drawn line is both a graphic entity and a physical movement that is at once spontaneous and precise; it is accomplished in one continuous movement. The pen, as it were, hits the surface running - and leaves it in the same fashion. These drawings consist of many such lines (and movements) brought to completion. In a way, the act of drawing is choreographic and the drawings themselves comprise a kind of notation. Yet at the same time, somehow, they depict matter and motion and seem to allude to a reality outside themselves in images of quite startling spatial illusion, without referencing day-to-day objects. An extraordinary feature of these drawings is that despite the multiplicity of lines, there are no outlines; in conventional terms, there is not an 'edge' in sight: these lines represent anything but 'edges'. The problem posed by these drawings centres not so much on the difficulty of describing drawings in which lines do not denote edges but on the difficulty of describing things, which have edges but no outline. One consequence of there being no outline is the interconnectedness of things, the interrelation of everything. On reflection, perhaps what is most surprising is not the ambiguous nature of the edge, or the uncertain identity of things, but that the continuity between surfaces across space does not preclude the identification of objects in space. In this respect the drawings are quite unambiguous: they make explicit the connections between things.
Although the artist's primary medium is pen and ink on paper, the seeming paradox whereby certain non-perspectival linear structures tend to evoke precise three-dimensional 'objects' has led her to extend the implications of her inquiry into the sensually diverse forms of gouache, etching and engraved glass.
Wendy Smith studied Fine Art at Nottingham College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. Her career has embraced with equal commitment the creative possibilities of both art practice and teaching. In 1989 she left her post as Head of Fine Art at Camberwell School of Art and Crafts to concentrate on her own visual work and to pursue certain compelling questions concerning the nature of drawing and representation. In 1998 she was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship (postdoctoral research on the implications for art and artists of Wittgenstein's criterion of the visual experience). She has exhibited widely, both in the U.K. and internationally.
Domo Baal wishes to thank Bob Matthews for his assistance with this exhibition.
For further information/visuals please contact Domo Baal on 020 7242 9604
An essay on the work of Wendy Smith will be available by Alex Potts.
Friday 6th September until Saturday 12th October 2002
Private View : Thursday 12th September 1800-2100 hrs
Wendy Smith will give a talk at 6.30pm on Wednesday 6th November at The Prince's Foundation, 19-22CharlotteRoad, London EC2A 3SG. Everybody welcome.
Next exhibition : 'Non-Plan' 17th October until16th November, curated by Sadie Murdoch exploring notions of the "Non-Plan" model in the urban environment. With : Brian Dawn Chalkley, Harriet Guiness, Paul McDevitt, Sadie Murdoch, Corinne Noble, Akane Takayama
domoBaal contemporary art
3 John Street, London WC1N 2ES
t : 020 7242 9604
f : 020 7831 0122