Wendell Smith

Artist Statement

Memory is a central factor in the work articulating the personal narratives of the artist's lived experiences. As part of the experience, cultural identity plays a prominent role where the journey motif is used to reflect the process of time. Visual images in the work shift between reality and the abstract. The work probes the questions of existence, the human relationship to both the interior (psychological) and exterior (physical) worlds that define contemporary reality. As an observer to the drama of human history the artist explores those narratives that have constructed the present. Multi-layering is evident in the work, conveying depth, reflective of history. Intuitive marks construct the emergence of forms, adding spontaneity, movement, and the “visual dance.”