Dean Smith: The center is the edge of the threshold

On View: September 3 – October 30

Opening Reception | Saturday, September 10 | 4-6pm

Anglim/Trimble Gallery is pleased to announce Dean Smith’s The center is the edge of the threshold, the artist’s seventh solo exhibition at the gallery, beginning at Gallery Paule Anglim in 1999. The exhibition features the continued refinement of three bodies of work in drawing and collage that Smith has pursued over the past decade and half. The title of this gathering of Smith’s work implies a potentially ceaseless movement inward and regards the element of time, the nature of space, and the quality of silence in equal measure.

In the focusing and diamond net drawings, time is condensed into a series of small, energetic staccato marks clustered together and radiating outwards to create a dynamic field of energy. In the careful and determined repetition of making each tiny mark, time is expressed as an energetic performative act; that is, being a record of Smith’s actions and, paradoxically, a visual presentation of the non-visual.

The labyrinth series depicts ahistorical geometric forms drawn precisely, yet delicately, on found vintage paper—time presented both as rumination and physical fact. By their refusal to be specific in their representation, speaking to both past and future structures, these linear shapes become transcendental forms of silence and mystery.

The environment collages reflect time in a manner akin to the labyrinth series.  Constructed of fragments sourced from 19th century engraving illustrations (originally published in journals such as the London Illustrated News), these collages simultaneously mirror the time of the source material and obfuscate it. While the original images were representational (meant to illustrate news events or travelogues of the day), in Smith’s hands the various collaged elements are arranged to abstract rather than reveal their figural nature. What becomes articulated is a deeply oneiric space.

Anglim / Trimble