Maus Contemporary
LESLIE SMITH III
One Silly While
2022
oil and dried pigment on shaped canvas
approx. 22 by 25 in. (ca. 55,9 by 63,5 cm)
Still Blue
2022
oil and dried pigment on shaped canvas, sewn canvas, acrylic-stained canvas
approx. 24 by 17.5 in. (ca. 61 by 44,5 cm)
Together
2022
oil paint, graphite, and industrial felt on shaped canvas
approx. 41 by 56 in. (ca. 104,1 by 142,2 cm)
The artist recent exhibition Stranger days explores the intimacy of observation. Once again, I’ve turned to the painting support itself for inspiration. Accepting the initial shaped canvas as the first formative gesture, I’ve looked to create subsequent gestures that amplify its presence. The addition of felt, as a juxtaposing support, allows a nuanced conversation between the rigidity of weave and weft and the irregularity and randomness of felted wool fibers. This conversation is steeped in notions of drawing, mark making and improvisational discovery. Therefore, paving the way for a more process-based approach to integrating illusionistic space and an embrace of perceived flatness. Stranger Days looks to challenge how we see what we see. This exhibition warrants long stares and quiet, intimate viewing. This was the space from which this work was conceived, in the latter half of 2020. Inherently introspective, this selection of paintings pause to acknowledge the fortification of daily rituals during times of intense uncertainty. I focused on allowing space for redefining the rules of making while concurrently experiencing deep shifts in our social-cultural and political identities. The individual works in this exhibition reference both internal and external forces. The likes of which we experience when trying to rationalize disbelief.
— Leslie Smith III
Today is Yesterday's Tomorrow
2022
oil paint, dried pigment, sewn canvas, and industrial felt
approx. 43 by 95 by 4 in. (ca. 109,2 by 241,3 by 10,2 cm)
In The Thick Of It
2022
oil paint, dried pigment, sewn canvas, and industrial felt
approx. 74 by 63 by 11 in. (ca. 188 by 160 by 28 cm)
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If I Can Find My Way Back Home
2022
oil paint, dried pigment, sewn canvas, and industrial felt
approx. 59 by 93.75 in. (ca. 149,9 by 238,1 cm)
Meet Me In The Sky
2022
oil paint, dried pigment, sewn canvas, and industrial felt
approx. 44.5 by 43 in. (ca. 113 by 109,2 cm)
private US collection
"Amongst the chaos of mid 2020, the pandemic, political riots, working from home, home school, grocery shopping, long lines, and PCR tests. I longed for silence while in lockdown.
In Silence is a series of drawings whose making, calmed many storms and created the grounding force to stay focused and disciplined. It is a selection of five drawings from a ritualized drawing practice. Each drawing consists of many light and scratchy marks that collectively create nebulous forms. I intended to create works that made graphite appear weightless on paper. My uncertainty of a definitive outcome for each drawing initiated the start of a new one. The idea of finishing anything seemed too certain in a time of so much uncertainty.
At the core of these five selected works, I found silence."
— Leslie Smith III, January 2022
In Silence
a new series of five works on paper
2022
graphite on Arches 300 paper
Now What ?
2022
oil paint, dried pigment, sewn canvas, and industrial felt
approx. 20 by 13.2 in. (ca. 50,8 by 33,5 cm)
Outside the Ears of Others
2022
oil paint, dried pigment, sewn canvas, and industrial felt
approx. 12 by 14 in. (ca. 30,5 by 35,6 cm)
Redaction
2017
oil on shaped canvas (three individual sections)
approx. 62.5 by 118 in. (ca. 158,7 by 299,7 cm)
Redaction was included in the Elissa Auther-curated exhibition
Aftereffect: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Painting
at the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, MCA Denver, in Denver, Colorado
Redacted
2017
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 70 by 96 in. (ca. 177,8 by 243,8 cm)
Above The Fold
2017
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 19 by 24 in. (ca. 48,2 by 61 cm)
In The Margins
2017
oil on shaped canvas, acrylic and graphite on Arches 300g. paper
approx. 31.5 by 29 in. (ca. 80 by 73,7 cm)
In the Margins was included in the Elissa Auther-curated exhibition
Aftereffect: Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Painting
at the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art, MCA Denver, in Denver, Colorado
Locus of Control
2017
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 50.5 by 51.5 in. (ca. 128,3 by 130,8 cm)
The Mistress of Time
2017
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 55.5 by 52 in. (ca. 141 by 132,1 cm)
permanent collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Affliction 5
2016
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 40 by 20 in. (ca. 101,6 by 50,8 cm)
Second Chance
2016
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 26 by 30 in. (ca. 66 by 76,2 cm)
private collection, Switzerland
Silent Treatment
2016
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 36 by 45.5 in. (ca. 91,5 by 115,5 cm)
Five Sided Disposition
2016
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 53 by 50 in. (ca. 134,6 by 127 cm)
Sweet Dreams And Flying Machines
2016
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 75 by 110 in. (ca. 190,5 by 279,4 cm)
permanent collection of The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Only A Paper Moon
2015
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 51.5 by 52 in. (ca. 130,8 by 132,1 cm)
Ready or Not
2014
oil on shaped canvas
approx. 29.5 by 26 in. (ca. 74,9 by 66 cm)
Night Mass
2013
oil on shaped canvas
ca. 27 by 27 in.
An abstract painter, Smith explores both the complexity of the non-representational and the expansiveness created by working on non-traditional supports. Not content with being confined by the linearity of the rectangle or the square, Smith explodes the confines of geometry with custom designed shaped canvas supports that would seem accidental were they not so absolutely intentional, their soft edges falling away, drifting, challenging viewers’ expectations and creating tensions that are almost unimaginable.
Smith’s paintings literally feel as if they could leap off the wall. Their forms seem as if they could reflect, veil and reveal at precisely the same moment as the artist pushes viewers away, holds them close and pulls them through in the same moment. Smith understands the complexities of abstraction and he uses both the surfaces and the structures of his works to create tensions that are palpable. His works are filled with suggestions of the familiar, being both wondrous and comforting.
Bather
2011
oil on linen
ca. 26 by 26 in.
Near Window
2011
oil on linen
ca. 26 by 26 in.
Gladiator
2011
oil on linen
ca. 26 by 26 in.
Airplane
2012
oil on canvas
ca. 26 by 26 in.
Lay Away being installed at the
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art
"Leslie Smith employs abstraction to communicate stories about the human experience. A classically trained painter, he nevertheless embraces the ambiguities of a more expressionist-based practice, populating his canvases with shapes that oscillate from amorphous to representational, and meanings that hover between the indecipherable and the suggestive."
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