Culture
Athens Painter Aaron Smith Featured This Month At ARTS/West
< < Back toARTS/West will host an opening reception for Athens artist Aaron Smith on Friday, Dec. 5 from 6–8 p.m.
Smith’s exhibit will hang in the performance space until Jan. 5, 2015.
According to Smith’s artist statement, his paintings are “open to perceptions that exist in the subconscious mind of the viewer, while simultaneously being a direct expression of my own perceptions.”
His use of traditional art mediums, such as oils on canvas, requires the viewer to address the space differently than photography, said Smith.
“Though my paintings are strongly representational, the challenge and questioning of ‘real’ is more persistent with representational painting over the perception of truth in photography,” read the statement. “I try to coax extended attention from the viewer by creating a formal composition with no direct focal point. My even-handed treatment of the surface, plus a compositionally dynamic movement of shape and line are intended to aid in this.”
Smith added that he has been increasing the size of his canvases in an attempt to force a physically engaging size and shape with the viewer’s body.
“I wish to create an environment that is semi experiential…I wish for the viewer to feel as if she can enter the space,” he explained.
Refreshments will be provided at Friday’s event, which is free and open to the public.