A Q&A with artist Christopher Smith
Opening Thursday at 6 p.m., Greenwich Library
By Darren Johnson
Journal & Press
Christopher Smith is a well-known local artist based in West Rupert, Vt., who regularly exhibits in the Battenkill Valley. A Rhode Island School of Design graduate whose work mostly involves vibrant, wildly imaginative paintings and drawings, along with other forms, Smith says his subject matter “springs from a variety of unexpected sources, making for subconscious revelations about self and society, past and present.”
His new exhibit, “Going Places,” will be on display in the Greenwich Free Library Community Room starting with an opening reception with food and refreshments on Thursday, Feb. 13, from 6 to 8 p.m., and run through March 15.
I recently caught up with the artist. Here is our Q&A:
DJ: So why did you title your upcoming exhibit “Going Places?”
CS: Most of 20 works that will be on display are a metaphor for you going places in the world, but they also are a metaphor for going places in my imagination and psyche. And so the pieces will be a variety of subject matter. All oil and acrylic paintings on canvas, half of them will be actual locations and another third portraits and the rest will be objects. And they are rendered in a style that combines the concrete physicality of people, places, and things with and imaginative twist. People are going to see the absolute best work I can possibly come up with.
DJ: What is your approach to making the art?
CS: I approach it from my so many different angles. I approach it from a technical standpoint, spiritual standpoint, literary standpoint, a musical standpoint. There is nothing I'm not influenced by. … It starts with me looking at the woods, but once I get started, I’m IN the woods.
The show is “Going Places” because most of the time I'm on a path and make discoveries along the way; there is also walking off the beaten pass in the woods. I go through this journey. …
Sometimes I leave the woods but will go back into the woods and see it in a new way. I will paint back over something and let the colors of the previous efforts shine on through the colors of the new subject. One brush stroke over another, creating formally, creating colors, shapes. Stuff I could never could have anticipated if I just started with a white canvas.
DJ: Are you looking forward to the reception on Feb. 13?
CS: It’s West Rupert meets the larger community. A lot of effort was put into selecting these works, and developing the theme of “Going Places.” I want everyone to take the journey with me. I want them to be invigorated and have a great experience and feel that it was worthwhile having seen the works and having been there. I look forward to meeting everyone and seeing and hearing their reaction.
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