Leslie Smith III

I am an artist who creates paintings and works on paper that explore the relationship between abstraction and identity. My art investigates themes such as compatibility, transparency, resentment, and opaqueness, which I see as influences on our interactions with people in our daily lives. Reflecting our complex and multifaceted identities, my paintings are composed of multiple parts, with individual-shaped canvases functioning as excerpts that represent parts of something greater. I am curious about the space beyond the surface of the canvas and seek to invite the viewer to delve deeper into the layers of my work.
 
My creative process reflects my interest in painting gestures and their allegorical potential in broadening notions of Black expression. Isolated gestures are assembled into rigid structures, reflecting the challenges of deriving meaning from form and color while also taking shape as objects imbued with emotive sensibilities. These works acknowledge the complexities of Black identity as they relate to personal experience.
 
I paint to archive processes in search of challenging yet familiar aesthetics. Like a collage artist, I reimagine the representation of multiple dimensionalities and the pictorial possibilities of two-dimensional surfaces. The resulting image is a shaped object on a wall that conveys meaning in its physical presence, sparking curiosity and anxiety in those encountering it.

With an interest in confronting art history and its accompanying dogmas, I freely assimilate canonical conversations and create works that collapse the medium's traditional divisions. By doing so, I suggest that contemporary abstract painting can critically engage its rich history while transcending ideological limitations.