focusing #2, 2006
graphite on paper
35” x 27”
(detail on right)
intooutof #3, 2006
graphite on paper
37” x 27”
(detail on right)
lemondrop, 2006
fluorescent ink on paper
29 1/2” x 23 3/4”
(detail on right)
spot #5, 2006
fluorescent ink on paper
29 1/2” x 22 1/2”; 34 3/8” x 27 3/8” fr
topology #20 (conduction), 2006
metallic ink on paper
37” x 29”
(detail on right)
topology #19, 2005 - 2006
fluorescent ink on paper
18” x 14 1/2”
topology #14 (crystallographic), 2001
Ink on paper
29” x 21.75”
Dean Smith produces drawings that are abstract, yet make reference to organic growth and the representation of 3-dimensional space. Delicate compositions made up of tiny lines, so fine and regimented in their perfect repetition, it seems impossible that they might be produced, tiny mark after tiny mark, by hand. Whether made from pencil strokes or fine touches of a fluorescent pen, Dean Smith’s drawings breathe their own life, living somewhere between geometry and botany.
Smith’s process is meditative and disciplined: the minute marks and fragility of the drawings’ surface patterns are matched by the strength and magnitude of the task of their execution. The drawings address time, space and order without benefit of mathematics or a straight line.
Dean Smith lives and works in the Bay Area. His work has been collected by the British Museum, LA County Museum of Art, the Albright-Knox Gallery of Art, the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum and the Oakland Museums among other public collections.
Copyright Gallery Paule Anglim
14 Geary Street | San Francisco, CA 94108 | 415.433.2710
