“I’m a mark maker,” he says, pointing out how the spaces between paintings and the time lapsed between each work’s completion allowed him to slow down and assess the relations of such seemingly disparate parts. As for why he paints such tiny pieces, he explains, “I wanted to see how much I could put into the small frame.”
In the larger paintings, Smith is able to create the magic of stunning minimalistic surface tones built atop uneven, tiny marks. These marks come together to create the foundation for a coherent surface. It’s the charm of an inherent contradiction. “I’m interested in things that aren’t certain,” Smith says.