August 16, 2018
September Art Show: Smithy Blackwell

In the City Center Art Lounge, 300 Page Street, San Francisco, 94102

Drawing with an eye-dropper and sumi-e ink, I aim to reproduce, not so much the reality, rather its sentiment or felt nature, which in Japanese can be called Kokoro mochi—the moving spirit.

The uncontrollability of the eyedropper impels me to work swiftly and from an inner connection. This means I discover later which pieces may have captured the animating spirit—and that I throw away a lot.

I also find myself going back into the initial drawing with brush and wash to tease out what narrative may be found. The wash tends to flood the scene with atmosphere and begins to tie together disparate parts of a drawing. Developing this process leads me to follow what may be found in layering drawings with wash in a larger context. The exploration of what may be found, what might happen there, what story is being told that I cannot know yet, interests me and keeps me in the process.

Working with the brush, I continually return to depicting various gorilla spirits in a separate series.

Formal art education includes: fine art at the School of Visual Arts, New York City; the University of Texas at Austin; and animation at San Francisco State University.