Contest  2005

Mark Smith’s collage paintings are created from recycled fabric and acrylic paint stretched over canvas. Silhouettes of athletes, musical performers and their audience are stenciled across and cut away from the surface of the paintings to mask and reveal printed fabric underneath. The segmented format of the paintings themselves are based upon aerial views and actual floor plans for places of public gathering such as sports arenas, churches, and convention halls. All locations where temporary transitory community are established. Mark Smith will also be exhibiting a series of hand sewn stuffed vinyl sculpture. The sculptures are pop inspired, brightly colored, and tightly packed spherical forms assembled from the fabric scrap created by the paintings production. Both the sculptural work and the collaged paintings reflect the artist interest in using non- traditional materials to produce his work.