'Obscura'
Lionel Smit at Everard Read Gallery Cape Town'There is a constant push and pull recurring in my paintings and in these works the physicality of this process becomes even more apparent ... the abstract and the portraiture have an apparent relationship, however they also do not; and that is when the subject starts to be obscured ...'
Lionel Smit , Cape Town 2015.
Everard Read Cape Town is proud to present 'Obscura', the highly anticipated 2015 exhibition by Lionel Smit.
As Smit’s first solo presentation at the Cape Town space, 'Obscura' showcases brand new paintings, sculptures, photographs, as well a newly completed video artwork.
In this exciting and fresh selection Smit moves across mixed media with fluidity and ease. Gliding between the various expressions of ‘portraiture’, the viewers find themselves drawn into his exploration and investigations. Smit tackles his journey by means of a dialogue between what one knows and sees and that which runs concurrent to this, our impulsive responses and intuitions - a universal abstraction. There is a juxtaposition of recognisable female forms and blocks of abstract colour in a fluid and layered dance that heighten our experience of these contrasts . By allowing these different languages to engage, Smit concludes a cohesive relationship for them, where they serve to both ‘obscure’ and accentuate each other.
Nowhere is this more metaphorically evident than in his choreographed video 'Obscura'. Here the live model in dialogue with Smit allows interruptions and spontaneity to multicolour her. These visceral moments all capture the duality of his languages, as abstraction and portraiture merge to take the finished forms of paintings , sculptures or photographs that immortalise his organic creative process.
04 February - 17 February
