CHERI SMITH

There is a preoccupation with the ground inherent in this new body of work, whether through feet firmly planted, the creeping proliferation of weeds, or a heavy falling down to earth. To say “an earthing” is almost to say “unearthing,” bringing to the surface layers of curiosity and mystery embedded within these paintings.

An interest in the primal, natural, and earthly is evident in my colour palette: green earth, raw umber, and stil de grain, natural pigments of green, brown, and gold originally derived from stones and berries. Many paintings are monochromatic, rendered entirely in greens (verdaille) or browns (brunaille), and applied tonally in thin layers so that they possess a strange inner glow.

The paintings are inhabited by recurring figures: plants such as toadflax and wood sorrel; animals such as deer, dogs, crocodiles and snakes; and humans, both embodied and skeletal. These beings reappear within the same frame, sometimes stepping out from one painting and into another. They are observed and imagined, subjects and symbols, alive and dead. Life is embodied, entangled, layered, and cyclical.

I paint these beings one at a time, allowing the ground to emerge around the bodies upon it. The composition and potential narrative are continually changing during the painting process. One body reacts to another. The logic is that of a puzzle or a pattern, tessellating and organic, or like atoms in the air, jostling, reacting, and connecting together.