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TREMAIN SMITH

 

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My art is about what is inside coming out. I let the process take over, guiding me, absorbing me. It is a matter of trusting the process and trusting what is inside. Some years ago I read a quote by artist Agnes Martin: "If you live by inspiration then you do what comes to you." I take that literally. The result reveals a mystery, something deep, something important, something personal, spiritual, emotional.

I am dedicated to the process of creating, of "living by inspiration", of allowing what is inside to come out, to be expressed, valued, trusted and honored. It is a spiritual process, a creative discipline, a journey with doubts and fears, and with revelation and recognition. I strive for freedom. I greatly respect those who take risks, or see and point out the beauty in "ugly" things or things passed by unnoticed. There is an order to seeming chaos, a beautiful pattern to deterioration and a raw, sometimes frightening aspect to new life, to birth. These things attract me. They are reflections, metaphors to inner mysteries. My work embraces them.

When I paint, I invoke the spirits. I try to summon them out of the work, explore them, find them as I create, begin to name them. I light a candle when I work, always.

Tremain Smith

 

BIOGRAPHY

Tremain Smith was born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1961, and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. She lives and works in Philadelphia. Smith studied at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Tyler School of Art, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania. Her work is exhibited nationally and is in private collections internationally. Four of her pieces are in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Smith's imagery is rich and organic. Her abstract oil paintings and works on paper are deeply textured with tiers of obscured forms that convey depth and mystery. Incorporating collage and wax and embedded objects, Smith makes paintings that feel like ancient objects inviting access to the spirit world. These pieces, composed of layers of earthy glazes on top of transparent wax, are about uncovering and regaining something old and sacred. Her themes invoke a sense of ritual and the presence of primal forces.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards and has received positive recognition from critics and curators. Her work was featured in the art journal, New American Paintings, Volume 21. Adrienne Jenkins, of the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, comments on Smith's "unique ability to express emotion and spirit through color and form in a way that evokes the viewer's response at physical, emotional and spiritual levels." Through "a delicate balance of organic forms, color and found objects, Smith captures that perfect moment of paradox where the mysterious feels familiar."

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