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 Trial By Fire. © 1994 |
Rebecca
Schoenkopf, OC Weekly - Long Beach Rocks ['Hindsight'] "...Trial by Fire is probably the most interesting piece. Against a coppery background, small twigs bar the small window and form a prison cell as the nub of a burnt candle drips wax down the face of the work. I'm always happy to see some good paeans to Joan of Arc." "Dying on the Vine features a split-pea green facade with a baby's wooden block in the window. It might be manipulative; it might be smaltzy, All I know is, thinking about it later, I wanted to cry. Of course, without the title, it would be mirely inscrutable." |
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| Melancholic 'Hindsight' Shows Surprising Insight
at Portfolio By Lisa Buck The Downtown Gazette "The title of the exhibition is itself melancholic: 'Hindsight' meaning "I figured it out too late", is a solo exhibition by WL Smith at Portfolio. At first glance a show of tidy minimalist abstractions that proclaim their own objecthood with a brash attention to surface and substance, the work soon reveals its quiet sorrow. My favorite pieces are those into which is cut a neat, rectangular niche. Into the niche Smith parks a small dead object of little importance. Benign Neglect, the color of grimy terra-cotta, hosts an old, corroded sprinkler head that stares at the viewer with a mute ineffectiveness. The canvases, if that's what they are, have the thickness and weight of a chunk of wall. They are tough, heavy and hard, like rock or cement, an impression Smith creates by building up the surface with impasto, glazes and pigments. The titles which complete the work, are lifted from the encyclopedia of misery. It is not the kind of suffering that yells out in agony, however, but the dull ache of eternal damnation. Like Triage and Judgment and Ignorance, they describe the underbelly of the human condition. Trial by Fire is as grim as a life sentence in a forgotten dungeon. Colored the brown of rain-soaked rock, the painting encloses an extinguished candle behind a rusted fence. Little drips of wax dribble from the cell, lending an element of pathos to this metaphor for resignation. Looking like a slab of smog-corroded marble, Compromise houses an old high-intensity light bulb and is wrapped in barbed wire. Where the barbs touch the surface, there are little red gashes that look like wounds. Bleeding rock in bondage. I love it. Despite the tone of gloom and woe conveyed by Smith's work, there is a touch of cheer in their physical appeal. They are really, very nice paintings. This is art that keeps on giving." µ |
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| "I'd
hang one of his pieces in my home. Especially the one
where the little locked door, so intriguingly bloodied,
makes one want to open it - and go inside." - George Metivier, The Missing Link. 'Alternative Perception'. "You are already Inside" - Linda Yoon, Darks Art Parlour. 'Unveiled'. |
"I
haven't seen Smith's work yet, but it sounds like a
Jumpstart on the caffeinated art scale - you'll need a
four-shot just to keep from sobbing out loud or curling
up fetal on the couch." - Inigo Jones, The 'Catalyst'. Caffeinated Art. |
When people walk
through an art gallery they usually pick out a piece that
for one reason or another catches their eye. Very few
people stop to figure out what each detail means. The
buyer would be surprised if they took it for more than
face value. An artist expresses a point of view and
feelings in everything they make. It can be a dream to
see the ocean or a political statement. The point of the
picture may be as simple as the title or it could be
found in the last brush stroke. The artist want's to
communicate with a large number of people at once and
there is no better way than mass media. By just figuring
out the meaning of the title, one has started the climb
into the artist's mind. |
Blood catches my eyes, then scratch marks upon the door. Chills hit my spine as I feel the pain and suffering in the piece. The key hole locks the vault and the occupants within. All humans are imperfect and only one, Jesus, was free from sin. With that fact in mind most of mankind would be in purgatory. What is so comforting knowing that I will work hard all of my life to be the best person possible and still have to suffer? It doesn't make much sense. Behind that door the living don't know what happens. By the looks of the blood from the dripping key hole it is not pleasant.
Adding a bit of history, Jesus died as a ransom sacrifice for all mankind. It is through him that our sins are forgiven. (With nails driven into his body, being beat and tortured to his death, so that mankind would be free from such punishment) The mere suggestion of purgatory degrades his sacrifice. The ludicrousness of this idea helps support of purgatory as Mr. Smith's definition. |
The traditional teaching is also out dated and a very old way of thinking. Knowing that Mr. Smith is some what of an activist the thought of a bunch of old men sitting around thinking up another way to control people is probably what moved him in choosing his materials. He chose an antique key plate. One reason for that choice might have been that that was what was available at the time. A more logical reason would be to express a point. Why should people be frightened into a life that some old stuffed shirt dictated to people so long ago that the idea is more antique than the key plate? The answer; we should dictate our lives, not doctrines invented in the imaginations of control freaks. Another outstanding use of materials is demonstrated with the use of plaster, acrylic, and tempera on canvas. Mr. Smith combined these items to make the cement box. Cement last for decades and if an animal were to die in it, its imprint could be preserved, as happened with the idea of purgatory. No where in the Bible is purgatory mentioned, a fact the Catholic Church recognizes. But it is continued to be taught because of tradition, also known as a fossil being stuck in cement. Once cement is set it can't be changed, maybe that is what is meant by being stuck in your ways, purgatory is a perfect example. The scratches on the door mean more than the obvious pain of souls in purgatory. They are the wanting out of tradition. The artist himself is an activist, he along with others continue fighting old ways to breed new ways. Society and tradition change with every voice just as the scratches have warped the door and changed it. Eventually purgatory won't be taught. Not because men have lost. µ |
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