Neal Smith

Neal Smith: New work

Exhibition dates: Wed 30 May to Sat 16 June 2007
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Neal Smith creates low-relief sculptures and wall works based on his experiences of popular culture. The new series of artwork by Smith features seven snowmen. A recent excursion to the snowfields prompted a fascination with the shapes and temporal forms of this universal traditional sculptural activity in the snow scape. These low relief sculptures follow the form of his previous series, exploring the organic roots of popular culture while it is in the ever-continual process of melting away.

Drawing on his suburban childhood in Newcastle, which he has described as a ‘middle-class utopia’, Smith addresses the passage of time via the cycle of trends. He studied at the Arts and Media Department of Newcastle TAFE and then took fine arts honours at Newcastle University, where he continued to investigate the notion of fashion and obsolescence in popular culture, taking influence from American sitcoms, Japanese toys, video games and cult movies. An element abstraction enters his work via his art making process, thus imbuing the work with a timelessness absent in its initial subject. Smith recontextualises the disposable, elevating it to a fine art status.

 

 

While his materials vary, from rubber sheeting and works on paper to sculptural plywood pieces, his work remains tied to his initial graphic-style hand drawings. That he uses such disposable materials to translate the transient to the timeless is a testament to the complexity of assessing and valuing objects.

His first solo exhibition at the Damien Minton Gallery in Newcastle in 2003 saw Smith explore Australian pop culture with images derived from the Mad Max series, adhering rubber sheeting directly to the walls. In 2003, Neal was the recipient of a Freedman Travelling Scholarship and spent time in Tokyo, which spawned his Mobile Fortune series. This series was later featured in Primavera 2004. In 2006 he was featured in Dream On, a group show at Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre which explored the notion of the ‘Australian Dream’ through the lens of popular culture.

Smith received an Australia Council grant in 2006, resulting in a studio residency in Los Angeles. The work he produced there will appear in a major group exhibition in Newcastle Regional Art Gallery.