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1 :::: Arts :::: Community :::: Bulletin Board :::: Mind/Body/Spirit |
Tim Smith: A sharp-edged man
By Tony Seideman
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Photos courtesy of Tim Smith
Tim Smith’s work is on display at the Peekskill Coffee House.
In an era when even comic book superheroes lead complex and tangled emotional lives, it seems almost a relief to look back at the craggy-faced visages of the heroes of past decades, or those who emulate them.
Yet even strong men are human, and being human can be pretty stressful, which is part of the reason Tim Smith created his art. It may well account for the way his show at the Peekskill Coffee House grabs patrons’ attention.
Smith's works are a new take on a familiar pop art approach. Indeed, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein provided much of his inspiration, and their approach infuses his canvases.
Yet Smith's work is of another era, a time when digital technology is ever-present and cartoons are not just on paper on canvas but on computer screens as well, and when the solid emotional certainties that informed many of the era's action films seem to have a somewhat more solid base than they do today.
All these realities are evident in Smith's canvases, right down to the way are created. There is a sharpness to them that goes beyond what the simple brush can do. And there's a good reason for that. The starting point for his pieces is the software in his computer.
Smith's smaller works hanging on the Coffee House's walls are actually direct printouts using the giclee process, which uses special, archival inks and ultra-high-quality printers. Larger pieces are far more complex.
First, heavy black outlines are printed on canvas. Then, masking tape and spray paint are put down in alternating layers. The sharp edges are part of his visual style, adding to the intensity and drama of the works. Smith then tried to focus on personalities that were as sharp-edged as his painting style.
Most of the portraits are of tough guys. For the most part, Smith deliberately chose faces that would be familiar but not overwhelmingly so. Lee Marvin, Lee Van Cleef and writer/poet tough guy Charles Bukowski area a few of his subjects. The only subject who is still alive is Daniel Craig, someone Smith painted because of a direct and inescapable commission from his sister-in-law.
Smith has been drawing and painting since he was a kid. He graduated from the School of Visual Art in 1999. During his time there he specialized in using spray paints as a medium. He started this series of works in 2003-2004, around the time he moved up to Peekskill.
What attracted Smith to his subjects was the fact that their on and off-screen personas tended to be in harmony.
“They had pretty big off screen persona, but they remained consistent with the characters they played,” he said. “That kind of simple man's black and white—you could sort of read everything they were about. There was a kind of simplicity to their characters and moral fiber.”
Though he understands that much of the simplicity was a myth, Smith is still drawn to it.
“Today there's so much ambiguity versus what is right and right is wrong. The oversimplification is attractive; it’s impossible but it's attractive,” he says.
As for the way his art reflects its pop-art roots, “even if it looks somewhat derivative, I kind of take it with a grain of salt and soldier on,” Smith says. “Those influences are certainly there. There aren't many artists working today who don't have a little Warhol in what they're doing.”
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