Mirror Sky with Studies 2009 – 2011: Michael Smith
The Art Gallery of the Eleanor London Cote-Saint-Luc Public Library
Côte Saint-Luc, QC, Canada
from the Library Archives
Mirror Sky with Studies, an exhibit by Michael Smith
“A large work takes several months to prepare. In this exhibition I’ve chosen just a few of the studies used in the working of the large diptych, Mirror Sky. I usually work on several large paintings at a time, referring continually to sketches, photographs and collages made before and during the working process. I’ve also included in this exhibition photographs recording my process of working.
This diptych refers to the experience of place and continues my longstanding exploration of landscape painting. I take away formal references to ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ and construct compositions to suggest the landscape existed within the viewer’s space. I have referenced images of water and woodland and transformed shadow into light and light into shadow. I do his to re-animate my relationship with the landscape and to make what is familiar unfamiliar. In this way the landscape references memory, expectation and the chance for surprise.”
Michael Smith