From the moment I entered the Rox Gallery, my experience surpassed any other excursion we’ve been on so far. The vibrant colors demanded attention and brought a feeling of excitement to the viewers. Looking closer at the works, I found something even more interesting than vibrancy – each piece had multiple shapes and textures, bringing about a collage-like result. This made the pieces even more entertaining, because we were able to imagine all the effort that went into creating the variety of surfaces and space.
These different dimensions, layers, and exquisite colors brought on a futuristic atmosphere in the gallery. The colors alone made me feel like I was in a glow in the dark mini golf course as they radiated off each surface. Because of this, the handmade art brought about a paradoxical appearance of digital art. This intention of the artist reflects the norm of today’s society, as we spend most of our days entranced in the screens of our cellphones, tablets, and computers. In fact, some of the frames were so square and small that I couldn’t help but feel that I was looking at an Instagram post. These futuristic and current day aspects of the exhibition made it that much more relatable and exciting to view.
The exhibition as a whole conveyed the evolution of process. On one wall, there were ‘basic’ paintings with different brushstrokes, colors, and shapes. On the opposite wall, there were striped paintings that added another layer to the painted surface with glued on strips of painting. Finally, the most elaborate sculptures on display included three dimensional wood cuttings. This evolution can be seen not only on a broad level (in the gallery as a whole) but on the small scale of a single painting. As the artist stated, this evolution is all about discovery, the idea that the mystery product would come as a surprising result of an intricate and spontaneous process.
The spontaneous energy of the artist can be felt just by walking through the gallery, making this experience both captivating and exhilarating.
Going into the Rox Gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to see Tom Smith’s Heavenly Bodies, the first thing that caught my attention about the gallery was the bold contrast between the plain, white walls and the pulsating colors of every painting. Like the Rox Gallery, most art galleries have white walls to create a sense of cleanliness and to direct the focus of the viewer to the painting. However, this effect is even more so for Heavenly Bodies as each painting is glowing with an abundance of bright colors that immediately strike the viewer as he/she comes into the room.
Boom Boom Room
As a result, the vibrant colors are a central importance to Heavenly Bodies. Take for example the painting to the right Boom Boom Room. In this art piece (one of my favorite), we see an assortment of light and dark neon-shaded colors such as green, blue, purple. yellow, etc. that are exuberant and work together to form an abstract, three dimensional-looking image. Although ideas about what the painting actually portrays differs from perspective to perspective, the vibrant colors of the painting nevertheless instill in the viewer a sense of joyfulness and enthusiasm. This sense of joy and enthusiasm, according to a discussion with Tom Smith, are meant to reflect the ideas of heaven and utopia, places people often envision and associate with happiness.
Strobe
Another interesting aspect of Heavenly Bodies is how digital each painting looks. From afar, the paintings look like they were made by computer. However up close, one can tell that the paintings were hand-made with physical objects such as wood, glue, and paint. As a result, Smith creates a paradox in which a hand-made painting looks digital, which blurs the line between what is digital and what is physical. Heavenly Bodies illustrates and reflects how art in modern day society is slowly becoming more and more digitize, moving away from conventional means of producing art.
Overall, Tom Smith’s Heavenly Bodies offers a refreshing take on art; its highly vibrant colors in conjunction with its digital appearance presented an art style that I found unique and enjoyable to look at.
More information about Tom Smith, Heavenly Bodies, and his other works can be found at: http://www.tomsmithart.com/works/
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