Despite All
“Optimism is the opium of the people.” – Milan Kundera
Mindy Solomon is pleased to showcase the talents of two longtime gallery artists, Ali Smith and Andrew Casto. Both artists infuse their work with energetic mark making and a dynamic ever evolving take on abstraction.
Ali Smith writes about her work: “My recent body of paintings coincides with a time of change in my life and themes I’m living through creep into the work, directly and on subtle levels. In this year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac, we may let go of what no longer serves us and shed what is holding us back. The act of transformation, of letting go of the old self, naturally connects with abstract painting, itself a continual act of self-discovery. Now in mid-life, shifting from a period of intense motherhood and self-sacrifice for the family’s needs, I find myself at the crux of new questions: what has been lost in giving of myself, and how can I fulfill my own desires in both art and life? What comes next? Working primarily in abstraction, I find a certain freedom to take risks in art that I might not take in life. The ability to live in the moment, to be impulsive, feels almost impossibly indulgent in contemporary living, whereas, in painting, all options seem available—even reinvention. There is also a great sense of the unknown. Images and details slowly reveal themselves. Life, that delicious mystery, hints at what might be, and in that abundance I never know what direction my work might go. Painting is a daydream.”
Andrew Casto utilizes his work as a therapeutic outlet. “My current body of work involves an investigation into extant negative forces in our lives, and to what degree the phenomenological ramifications of stress shape us physically, mentally, and emotionally. The formal language present in this analysis is based on a material study of geologic processes translated into ceramic and mixed media objects, often referencing historical vessel form. I seek a purposeful link between macrocosmic environmental change, and interruptions in our otherwise routine existence.
The foundation of this exploration is a desire to uncover the sublime in these moments of incongruity; the rush of presence into experience that might otherwise
remain banal and ordinary, brought on by perceived inconvenience. My work asserts that it is possible for our daily vexations to illuminate the power of the present moment – something we all too often fail to notice.”
Both artists add a vigor and enthusiasm to their work that makes the pairing quite intuitive. Bridging different mediums they bring a language that embraces the stalwarts of the genre (think Kandinsky, Joan Mitchell, and Cy Twombly) with a wholly new perspective. We are thrilled to showcase them together for the first time.
About the Artists
Ali Smith is known for her large-scale, colorful abstract paintings, Smith has created a personal language that deals with themes of mystery, motherhood, generosity, desire, and imperfection. In painting, Smith finds that anything feels possible in abstract painting: reinvention, abundance, breaking the rules. Working primarily in abstraction, Smith finds a certain freedom to take risks in art that she might not take in life. The ability to live in the moment, to be impulsive, feels almost impossibly indulgent in contemporary living, whereas, in painting, all options seem available—even reinvention.
Smith earned her MFA in Drawing and Painting at California State University, Long Beach in 2003 and has exhibited her work widely, with solo exhibitions in Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Houston, and Boston, and recently collaborated with composer Michael Alec Rose in an exhibition with musical performance in situ at Vanderbilt University. Her work is in many private collections in the US and internationally, including the Laguna Art Museum (CA), Frederick R. Weisman Foundation), and the Progressive Art Collection (OH). Smith was honored with a recent artist fellowship for the city of Long Beach and has been written about in the Los Angeles Times, artUS, Beautiful Decay, Bon International, and Artillery magazine, among others.
Andrew Casto (b. USA, 1977) lives and works in Iowa City, and has exhibited work internationally in Spain, Croatia, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Belgium, New Zealand, China, Switzerland, France, England, and Japan. He was a recipient of the Emerging Artist award by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, a long-term resident at The Archie Bray Foundation, as well as a finalist for the Young Masters Maylis Grand Ceramics Prize in London. Casto has exhibited in over ninety group and solo exhibitions, and is currently Professor and Director of The School of Art, Art History, and Design at The University of Iowa.
