JOSH SMITH AT XAVIER HUFKENS
"Keyhole"
- Until 16.04.22
© Courtesy of Xavier Hufkens
In an exhibition spanning both gallery spaces, Josh Smith presents a new series of abstract paintings together with an ensemble of recent figurative monotypes. In this diverse installation, the artist explores the impact of colour, gesture and form across a range of motifs, some of which are familiar while others represent a new thematic departure.
Keyhole [noun]: a hole in a lock into which the key is inserted
The paintings created for Keyhole revisit a recurrent thread in Josh Smith’s work – the language of abstraction – but amplified in terms of scale and energy. Smith has long been fascinated by the non-prescriptive nature of this painting style: that such works can mean everything and nothing; that any attempt at interpretation is purely subjective. With no predefined rules for creating such images, the path lies open for boundless experimentation. And it is within this exploratory field that Smith creates a space for both himself (abstraction, perhaps more than any other genre, is thought to express an artist’s emotions) and the viewer. In a certain sense, his abstract paintings are akin to poems or signals: the transmission of a creative energy that seeks to ignite a spark in the beholder, be that one of exhilaration, empathy, joy or recognition. Effortlessly navigating between abstraction’s openness of potential and the continuity of the tradition, his new paintings openly celebrate the joy of making, creating and, above all else, looking at art.
Josh Smith (b. 1976, Okinawa) lives and works in New York. Solo exhibitions include Josh Smith, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany (2016), Josh Smith, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Italy (2015), The American Dream, Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich, Connecticut (2011) and Hidden Darts, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria (2008).
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