Author: Ken Smith

       
Dance of Narcissus, 2008

Opening, July 1, 2022, 6-8pm at Bainbridge Arts & Crafts, Bainbridge Island, WA. I will have 16 images exhibiting in the three-person show.

Tea Welcome, 1997

I have just delivered 16 pieces to an upcoming three-person show on Bainbridge Island, across the Sound from Seattle, WA. The show will happen in July, and I will post more about the show soon. The show has given me the opportunity to print some older work and it has been a joy to see them come alive once again.

 A prestigious, glossy business journal titled Book of Lists, has chosen to put my image on their recent cover. My gallery representation in Iowa – Olson-Larson Galleries – worked with the publisher to make it happen. The image is titled Touch.

Spring Bough 3, 2022, Pigment Ink on Paper, 26×20 and 19-1/2×15,
 Limited Edition of 15 each size.

Found Places 3, 2022, monotype, 6″ x 6″.

 This small monotype on paper on panel is one of a series, Found Places 1 thru 7. What fun they are to make – the process and the wandering of the imagination.

 Spring Bough 1, 2022, Pigment Ink on Paper, 26×20 and 19-1/2×15,
 Limited Edition of 15 each size.

Personal Landscape, 2022, Pigment Ink on Paper, 26×20 and 19-1/2×15, Limited Edition of 15 each size.

Nightflowers, 2022, Pigment Ink on Paper, 26×20 and 19-1/2×15

More roses, but from a different time in the imagination. Another feeling, not only about flowers. The sentient mood after the sun goes down.

I have looked at this image in both color and black & white. It is a dilemma, for both are relevant. But they are unique too, for they stand separate in their two versions. I may keep them both, for I respond to both of them, as tho they were two different people, coming from a different background and perspective. It is more than about color or not. It is what the color one feels like. What the b&w one feels like.

There are theories about that. Maybe the b&w expresses its form better, without the color as a distraction. Maybe it is more moody and spare. Color has its attributes too…and it feels like warmth and sweetness in its tones. Its form is accentuated by the change of color. One feels that also. They are both yet to be titled, but for now Rose Bud.

Nature Being, 2021, Pigment Ink on Paper, 15×15 framed 28×22

An upcoming show at Confluence Gallery in Twisp, WA –  Filthy Little Pictures. The show seeks to open a discussion about the human body & human sexuality,  the social views and its repression. In my opinion, the repression of feeling and our true nature. It will be an interesting show, opening January 12 thru March 5, 2022.  I will have four pieces in the show, including Nature Being.