Jamaica-born, New York-based artist, Paul Anthony Smith, will uncover his solo exhibition, Antillean, at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York. The show continues Smith’s exploration of unease and obscurity within issues of diasporic identity. In a departure from still images, these paintings disrupt the crystal clarity of photographic information to invoke new ways of seeing.
The exhibition began as a series of photographs Smith captured during Carnival season in Trinidad and Tobago. The images, first printed on canvas or linen, underwent a series of picotage and spray paint treatments, as Smith complicates the simple translation of sharp photographs into literal meaning.
Standout works, such as “Caricom 2”, conjure patterns of Caribbean breeze blocks and window grates to underscore the experience of “reading” an image. In a collection of clouded sunsets, palm trees and celebrations, recurring symbols across the show both speak to collective experiences in the Antilles and interrogate their role as representational clichés.
“These cinematic details effectively become formal questions in Smith’s paintings through his process of challenging their descriptive clarity, allowing him to reflect on the photograph as merely a vessel of information,” says the gallery in a recent statement. “A fact, never as salient as during our information-saturated moment in history.”
Antillean will be on view at Jack Shainman Gallery from September 5 until October 26, 2024.
Jack Shainman Gallery
513 West 20th Street
New York, NY
