Andrew Smaldone - Correlative

About

Andrew Smaldone returns to SRISA gallery for his 3rd one-person exhibition: Correlative.

Significantly, for this show, Smaldone has purposefully focused on two themes he has visited before in his career: architectural interiors and non-spaces.

The works in the exhibition were all painted together: in a manner where depictions of architectural interiors were worked on alongside paintings of solely atmospheric color. The aim of this working method is to study both the similarity and difference in the paintings; to compare and see the relationship between works that are also visually different. This procedure further cultivates the natural way in which the human mind tends to wander from one subject to the next, oftentimes without a linear logic.

Sometimes what occurs while attempting to depict the same painting twice or even three times is that they remain relatively similar in terms of subject matter but differ in their atmosphere and color. While at other times the paintings become different works altogether.

Surface and scale are other practical approaches the artist implements towards his goal. Using different surfaces changes the way each work is painted. This change of surface, in other words, provides a certain discontinuity of technique: some works have more painterly brush strokes, for example, while others implement a smoother sfumato style.

In the non-spaces, A Forest & Horizon Smaldone prepared the linen surface over a period of weeks before painting, while the small interiors (all entitled Studio at the Old Saint Martins) are painted on readymade canvases bought directly from the store.

Ultimately, Smaldone aims to achieve work through his artistic process that cultivates the correlation of “both/and” as well as the “either/or”. He believes that through the act of painting, this visual idea can bring him closer to his interest in processes of memory and time, as well as the notions of the multivalent and infinite.