Sam Smith (artist)
Encyclopedia
Sam Smith is a contemporary Australian artist. He lives and works in Sydney.
Smith has exhibited in Australia at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art
, Brisbane; Macquarie University
Art Gallery, Sydney; Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre
, Sydney; 4A Asia Australia Arts Centre, Sydney; Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
, Melbourne; and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
. His work has also been included in screening programs in Japan, Spain, Brasil, Ireland, Thailand, China and Australia.
. He has since also won the inaugural 2008 Wilson HTM National Art Prize and the 2008 Churchie National Emerging Art Award.
Starting in February 2005 Smith completed a three-month residency and exhibition at Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo, Japan. In issue 29 of Australian Art Collector, he received coverage as one of Australia's most collectable emerging artists in their annual Smart Art feature.
In Control Structure (2008) the artist’s head is modeled larger than life from plywood, fiberglass and resin. A large digital video zoom lens extrudes from one eye socket, while the other eye is caved in and blackened. The back of the skull is broken open to reveal a LCD monitor looping a video where a film set becomes a doorway between two worlds. From the set emerges a single hovering lens containing traces of a parallel cinematic dataverse. As the artist comes into contact with the lens, his world is transformed, causing images to change orientation and play in reverse.
In his 2007 work Street Shift, Smith evokes the notion of digital space as a portal in which objects become fluid when the usually static character of architecture becomes unfixed. Cinematic green and blue screens, used as a background in digital film so that objects can be isolated and removed, become emblematic of video’s ability to transport, transform, and essentially render the contents of the world malleable.
The video camera itself can be seen as a wormhole where analogue light is broken down into pixels on its journey to the digital. In the two channel work Video Camera [HDW-F900/3] + Video Lens [HJ11x4.7B] (2007) this pipeline has been broken and the digital is manifested in the form of leaking green screen from the camera’s severed body. The green ectoplasm appears as a ghostly omen of the paranormal effects the thick ooze holds. In the gallery installation, the meticulously constructed larger-than-life forms of the video camera and lens are presented as latent representatives of the apparatus of time-based-art, exposed to our curiosity, and privileged as artefacts in their own right (the HDW-F900/3 was the pioneering camera of contemporary digital cinema). An early prototype of this model was used by George Lucas
in the production of the recent Star Wars
trilogy, facilitating an unprecedented use of blue and green screen.
In Tunnel (2007), the two dimensional plane of the video screen has been sculpturally extruded into three dimensions paralleling the artificially constructed perspective of the screen itself. The artist falls endlessly - trapped between two paint tin portals filled with cinematic green screen. The paint tin sits quietly in the gallery as part of the installation, the lid containing the doorway below. Skip forward to Twist (2007) and we see the tin exposed and spinning - the doorway has been opened.
Smith has exhibited in Australia at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art
Queensland Gallery of Modern Art
The Queensland Gallery of Modern Art is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre at the South Bank area of South Brisbane. It holds most of Queensland Art Gallery's contemporary works, while also being the joint host to the current Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art...
, Brisbane; Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...
Art Gallery, Sydney; Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre
Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre
Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre is a complex in the suburb of Gymea, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Hazelhurst features two Art Galleries, Theatrette, art studios, meeting rooms, gardens, gift shop and cafe. The facility also acts is available for hire as a function centre...
, Sydney; 4A Asia Australia Arts Centre, Sydney; Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces
Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces is a contemporary art complex located in the suburb of Fitzroy, Melbourne Australia.The complex was founded in 1985 and contains 3 exhibition spaces and 16 studio facilities.-External links:**...
, Melbourne; and Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts is a contemporary visual and performance arts venue located in Perth, Western Australia.-History:...
. His work has also been included in screening programs in Japan, Spain, Brasil, Ireland, Thailand, China and Australia.
Awards and prizes
In 2007 Smith received the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship to undertake a series of artist mentorships in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He has since also won the inaugural 2008 Wilson HTM National Art Prize and the 2008 Churchie National Emerging Art Award.
Starting in February 2005 Smith completed a three-month residency and exhibition at Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo, Japan. In issue 29 of Australian Art Collector, he received coverage as one of Australia's most collectable emerging artists in their annual Smart Art feature.
Art
Sam Smith is a video installation artist who utilises the mechanics of cinematic production and special effects technologies to form parallel universes in which the rational behaviour of matter is displaced by a realm of digital possibility. Rather than obscure the manipulation of space, time, form and perception that is integral to cinema, Smith’s work exposes the volatile connections between these elements, affording viewers a new perspective via science fiction style immersion. Cinematic green and blue screens, used as a background in digital film so that objects can be isolated and removed, become emblematic of video’s ability to transport, transform, and essentially render the contents of the world malleable.In Control Structure (2008) the artist’s head is modeled larger than life from plywood, fiberglass and resin. A large digital video zoom lens extrudes from one eye socket, while the other eye is caved in and blackened. The back of the skull is broken open to reveal a LCD monitor looping a video where a film set becomes a doorway between two worlds. From the set emerges a single hovering lens containing traces of a parallel cinematic dataverse. As the artist comes into contact with the lens, his world is transformed, causing images to change orientation and play in reverse.
In his 2007 work Street Shift, Smith evokes the notion of digital space as a portal in which objects become fluid when the usually static character of architecture becomes unfixed. Cinematic green and blue screens, used as a background in digital film so that objects can be isolated and removed, become emblematic of video’s ability to transport, transform, and essentially render the contents of the world malleable.
The video camera itself can be seen as a wormhole where analogue light is broken down into pixels on its journey to the digital. In the two channel work Video Camera [HDW-F900/3] + Video Lens [HJ11x4.7B] (2007) this pipeline has been broken and the digital is manifested in the form of leaking green screen from the camera’s severed body. The green ectoplasm appears as a ghostly omen of the paranormal effects the thick ooze holds. In the gallery installation, the meticulously constructed larger-than-life forms of the video camera and lens are presented as latent representatives of the apparatus of time-based-art, exposed to our curiosity, and privileged as artefacts in their own right (the HDW-F900/3 was the pioneering camera of contemporary digital cinema). An early prototype of this model was used by George Lucas
George Lucas
George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...
in the production of the recent Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
trilogy, facilitating an unprecedented use of blue and green screen.
In Tunnel (2007), the two dimensional plane of the video screen has been sculpturally extruded into three dimensions paralleling the artificially constructed perspective of the screen itself. The artist falls endlessly - trapped between two paint tin portals filled with cinematic green screen. The paint tin sits quietly in the gallery as part of the installation, the lid containing the doorway below. Skip forward to Twist (2007) and we see the tin exposed and spinning - the doorway has been opened.
External links
- http://www.samsmith.net.au - Official Website