Mark ELLIOTT SMITH
In my paintings I explore the realms of suggestive, enigmatic apparitions, seeing thoughts and ideas almost as patterns, interacting to define the optimum image in new forms and shapes which symbolise their existence. Prompted by a collection of my childhood drawings, which show a playful approach to the monsters of the imagination, my earlier self is revisited and explored in an ongoing reinterpretation, allied with visual resonances within the urban, contemporary scene. By altering and dramatising the scale of the original, often very small drawings, and representing chance actions in a controlled, deliberate way the process of painting reveals and amplifies previously hidden information, both visual and psychological, hinting at some kind of narrative beyond your conscious grasp.
What is sought, in this interaction between the abstract and the surreal, is a combination of spontaneity and control: a chaotic precision that extracts and re-presents the lost and found on an epic scale. Likewise, the titles of my paintings, though they parallel rather than describe the work, are precise and are chosen to function as micro-poems analogous to the images as they emerge and are defined.
- Mark Elliott Smith
Prizes and Awards
- 2016 The Art Gemini Prize, Asia House, London : Shortlisted
- 2013 The Atkinson Gallery Summer Show, Millfield School, Street : Prize Winner
Solo exhibitions
- 2017 Solo show by invitation of Trowbridge Arts, in association with Trowbridge Museum
- 2014 Solo show by invitation of The Atkinson Gallery, Millfield School, Street
- 2012 Out Of This World, Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Bath
- 2011 Science and Faith Collide, St James' Wine Vaults, Bath
Joint shows
- 2015 The Island, Bristol (In collaboration with View Gallery) Mark Elliott Smith, Thomas Dowdeswell, Chris Dear
- 2014 Adam Gallery, London, Mark Elliott Smith and Douglas Jeal
- 2014 Adam Gallery, Bath, Mark Elliott Smith and Douglas Jeal
Art Fairs
- 2017 The London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington, London
- 2015 The London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington, London
- 2014 The Affordable Art Fair, Battersea, London
- 2014 The London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington, London
- 2013 The London Art Fair, Business Design Centre, Islington, London
Group exhibitions
- 2016 The Art Gemini Prize, Asia House, London
- 2014 State Of Flux, Create Centre, Bristol
- 2013 The Atkinson Gallery Summer Show, Millfield School, Street
- 2012 Transience, Walcot Chapel, Fringe Arts Bath
- 2010 Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, Fringe Arts Bath
- 2010 Metamorphosis, BRSLI, Bath
- 2008 Muse, Edgar Modern, Bath
Residencies and Commissions
- 2016 - August, commissioned mural at 15 Great Pulteney Street Hotel, Bath
- 2014 - November - December, residency at The Atkinson Gallery including a specially commissioned painting for the gallery collection and a workshop and information sessions with the art scholars.
Artist Talks
- 2015 Forest of the imagination 5x5x5 event, BRSLI, Bath. “Everyone is an Artist”: Member of Panel
- 2014 Presentation to 50 art scholars at Millfield School, Somerset, covering my artistic influences and studio practice
- 2010 Relationship between childhood creativity and the adult artist: 5x5x5 Red Day conference, BRLSI, Bath
Featured Work on
- 2014 Evolver Magazine, issue 81
- 2014 Evolver Magazine, issue 84
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