Samantha Keely Smith
Samantha Keely Smith’s paintings explore the dual worlds in which we exist: our inner lives and the changing world around us. The paintings represent the landscape of the psyche, the place where the conscious and unconscious meet, where outside forces and our own human nature collide as we grapple with our place in an ever-changing and reactive environment. While painting, Samantha intersperses traditional brushwork with pouring and staining, and uses solvents and scraping to break up the oil-painted surfaces. She makes use of accidental moments in this process to further explore ideas of control vs. chaos.
The portraits explore how memories evolve over time, are reconstructed with each remembrance, and are further distorted through the lens of our inner lives, ultimately coalescing into a fictional version of a person or event. The emphasis is on the psyche, and the unfixed nature of identity and personality, rather than portraying a particular person.
“The work I’m doing at the moment definitely has a feeling of some sort of landscape or place, but they have nothing to do with real places, they are emotional and psychological places. Light plays an important role in my work. Because the work addresses the contrast and connections between an internal psychological space and my daily reality, they often depict dualities of light versus dark and order versus chaos.” – Samantha Keely Smith
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Thor & Jennifer Bueno with Samantha Keely Smith
Blown glass and oil paintings 30 Jun - 27 Aug 2022Created through a variety of techniques, the Buenos silvered and colored glass elements are arranged into wall-mounted compositions inspired by river stones and cairns, wildflowers and indigenous plants, pearls, and...Read more -
Samantha Keely Smith
solo exhibition 22 Feb - 26 Jun 2021 -
Introducing Two New Painters
Oil Paintings by Paul Sattler and Samantha Keely Smith 27 Jun - 31 Aug 2019Dramatic narratives unfold in Paul Sattler's charged and enigmatic oil paintings which reference historic and literary sources. Sattler comments, “A diverse population of animals are enmeshed in my works’ human-inhabited...Read more
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Samantha Keely Smith & Casey Roberts Visit Asheville
Back-to-back Artist Visits, Friday May 14th, 5-7:30pm May 11, 2021 -
Momentum Gallery Opens at 52 Broadway!
February 28, 2021 -
SOFA 2019 - An Art Fair To Remember
November 5, 2019 -
Samantha Keely Smith
New oil paintings convey complex emotions through abstract landscapes June 18, 2019