From Andrew Frost…
In an audacious move, Artereal Gallery sent out some unusual promotional material for Gary Smith‘s exhibition industrial poetry: industrial pop. Where some galleries might send an email, post an invitation or even send out expensive hard cover catalogues, Artereal went one better: they mailed out actual art works. Although only ‘proofs’ they did give a fantastic introduction to Smith’s technique for a series of works that marries appropriation, pop art and industrial imagery with a post photography practice.
Smith’s strikingly coloured images are printed and painted on board, a photo transfer technique that imbues each image with the fuzz and blur of a defocused image and the painterly overlay of glaze that in turn lends the image a faint Rauschenberg vibe. Indeed, Pop art is a major reference point in the series: the colour and print techniques of Pop give lend the works a graphic edge but in the choice of subject – industrial buildings and bridges, gas works and lighting towers – Smith’s work comes into its own. Derived in part from his own photography and images found on line, Smith’s work is the result of the everything-at-once aesthetic of western image culture. All things reach an equivalence, sandwiched together. The surprising part is how beautiful it can look.
Until February 28
Artereal Gallery, Rozelle
Pic: Gary Smith, suspension_4, 2014.
