Artist Statement
The contradictions between the way we look and the way we feel are central to my practice. I pour and disrupt paint over and over again, seeking a precarious balance between control and chance. My three-dimensional paintings range from fully abstract works with taught distended skins full of heavy coagulated paint to strange creature-like forms.
Each painting starts with gloss paint poured into pools with no preconceived outcome. I am mesmerised by the way the paint floods, oozes, coils and dances as it falls. Bold strong colours bleed, repel and collide to create unpredictable and unexpected reactions. The pressure of gravity combined with the tilting of canvases begins the formation of shapes and contours. I build layer after layer creating surface tension, which varies from mirror-like smoothness to highly textured wrinkles and furrows.
Containment of paint is important in my abstract paintings. The sculptural protrusions may look fragile and ready to burst but they are strong, encasing their innards in an impermeable outer shell. This enveloping signifies the shielding of emotions and the masking of anxiety and unease. Providing a place of safety to listen, watch, consider and contemplate. However, on occasion, the structures will fail in their making, paint slumps, and partially escapes leaving a deflated skin and traces of strength behind. This transparency is at the forefront in my creature paintings, whose subjects feel no need to take shelter. They are feisty challenging and wilful; their attitude is key. Free from inhibitions they embrace their faults and imperfections.
Bio
Angela Smith was born in Lincoln and lives and works in Sussex, UK she graduated from the University of Brighton in 2008 with a degree in Fine Art Painting. She won the Cass Art Solo Show Award at the National Open Art Exhibition, which led to her exhibition Precarious in Islington in late 2018. Previous solo shows include Surface Tension at Lacey Contemporary Gallery London in 2016 and The Unsaid at New Greenham Arts Newbury which was awarded as a prize shortly after she graduated. Her work has been selected for many group shows including The London Group Open (2017, 2015, 2013), The Royal Academy (2022, 2012) and The Discerning Eye (2017, 2016, 2010, 2009) where she was awarded the Parker Harris prize.
Education
2005-2008 BA(Hons) Fine Art Painting, University of Brighton
Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
2022 Angela Smith and Caroline Pick, Nu Artists, Gallery 207, Lewes
2018 Precarious (solo), The Space, Cass Art Islington, London
2016 Surface Tension (solo), Lacey Contemporary Gallery, London
2015 The Labyrinth Inside, Lacey Contemporary Gallery, London
2014 Café Projects, Towner, Eastbourne
2012 Angela Smith and Mark Hall, Modern Artists Gallery, Berkshire
2009 The Unsaid (solo), The Gallery, New Greenham Arts, Newbury
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024 The Sussex Contemporary, Marine Workshops, Newhaven
2024 The New Immortals, Brighton and Sussex Medical School
2023 Winter, Thrown Contemporary, London
2023 Spring, Modern Artists Gallery, Oxfordshire
2022 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2022 Yoolysees, Electro Studios Project Space, St Leonards on Sea
2021 Full Frontal, Debenhams storefront, Eastbourne
2021 Endangered Species, Modern Artists Gallery, Oxfordshire
2021 Nu Artists, South Street, Lewes, East Sussex
2020 Winter, Thrown Contemporary, London
2019 Re-Assemble, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London
2019 My Artists Telescope, jerwoodgallery.org
2019 Autumn, Modern Artists Gallery, Oxfordshire
2018 In Suspense, Thrown Contemporary, London
2018 Mainly Abstract, Modern Artists Gallery, Oxfordshire
2017 National Open Art Winners’ Show, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester
2017 The London Group Open, The Cello Factory, London
2017 National Open Art Exhibition, Bargehouse, Oxo Tower Wharf, London
2017 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2017 Winter Warmer, Lacey Contemporary Gallery, London
2016 The Discerning Eye Prizewinners’ Show, Triforium, Temple Church, London
2016 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2016 Signed and Numbered, Lacey Contemporary Gallery, London
2016 The New Immortals, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
2015 The London Group Open, The Cello Factory, London
2014 Reality Departure, Lacey Contemporary Gallery, London
2014 Chinese Whispers, London toured to Galerie Nasty Alice, Eindhoven
2014 The Tribe Prize, Edgar Modern, Bath
2014 Paint Like You Mean It, IR11, Edinburgh
2014 East Sussex Open, Towner, Eastbourne
2014 20 Painters, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
2013 Growth, Karin Janssen Project Space, London
2013 The Open West, Newark Park toured to The Wilson, Cheltenham
2013 The London Group Centenary Open, The Cello Factory, London
2012 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London
2012 Bite, Mall Galleries, London
2012 Oriel Davies Open, Oriel Davies Gallery, Powys, Wales
2011 East Sussex Open, Towner, Eastbourne
2010 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2010 Penang International, Penang State Museum and Gallery, Malaysia
2010 East Sussex Open, Towner, Eastbourne
2009 Postcards from Dystopia, Nolias Gallery, London
2009 The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2008 In Common, Corn Exchange and New Greenham Arts, Newbury
2008 Fine Art Painting Degree Show, University of Brighton, Brighton
Prizes and awards
2021 Outdoor art commission by Full Frontal Eastbourne
2018 Awarded Highly Commended in the Rise Art Prize
2017 Winner of Cass Art Solo Show Award, National Open Art Exhibition
2014 Shortlisted for The Tribe Prize, Edgar Modern, Bath
2014 Shortlisted for the IR11 Painting Prize, Edinburgh
2012 Shortlisted for stage 2 of John Moores Painting Prize
2012 Full page front cover of a-n magazine May issue
2009 The Parker Harris Prize, The Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
2008 Winner, In Common, Corn Exchange and New Greenham Arts, Newbury