~Event~ SMEAR ~ “Im tired of being sexy”
Smear has become one of my favorite artists of all times.
His painting style in my opinion is a representation of Life in its randomness captured at the spur of the moment. Life is always throwing curve balls at us and no matter how we plan ahead it has the authority to change our plans without notice. We either crash under the stress of relinquishing control or adapt and go with the flow. I see both of those actions in his paintings.
Smear constantly challenges my perception and acceptance with his paintings. He seems to reveal the conditioned degree my thought process is gravely in at times and puts whatever spiritual/progressive principles I claim to have to the test. I see what I need to drop in order to be free from a closed minded attitude that does nothing but keep one programmed in mediocre ness. The process proceeds with certain questions the piece asks me; like what is beauty? What is perfection? How does this relate? Why? And of course is this piece finished? His work would confuse me as to whether the piece was finished or not. I would ask myself; how can an artist leave something unfinished? I dug deeper and asked myself, does the perception of what looks unfinished tell me everything is in constant beginning and I should not give significance to end? If there is no end then surely there is no beginning which then takes me to a quote from Shri Krishna that says “For the soul there is neither birth nor death. The soul that is will never cease to be. It is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, underlying and primeval. It is not slain when the body is slain”. Which brings us to “The Moment” as an eternal point of reference which is clearly what is the most important and perhaps what his paintings are about. You can see where I am going with this and that’s how deep I go with a smear piece. He has the ability to incite revolution in my head.
It isn’t always discovery in the head sometimes its plain fun and I do have friends that just simply enjoy his artwork because it’s fun and random, they seem to just get it right of the bat. Once in a while you will hear a “This is so wrong I love it!” at one of his shows. I recently seen a piece with his dirty socks clipped on wood with a drawing n paint strokes and the title of the piece was “come a little closer“! How much fun is that!? A moment of honest freedom and perhaps childhood playfulness we sometimes lack in our routine. Good Times! Some have political references for example I have seen a painting of the Una-Bomber with the word environmentalist on it. There is another one called “Yogis first Hooker” which is one of those so wrong its right pieces. Be warned though his myspace headline is “The Neighborhood Nasty Man” and you will find some of his pieces filled with perversion and repulsive themes. I heard about a commissioned piece called “Your barking up the wrong tree snoopy” which has three nude women in sexual poses and the rumors are that smear either mixed inside the paint or straight painted areas of that specific piece with certain bodily fluids. When I asked if the rumor was true he didn’t give me a yes or no or maybe he did, he simply said “The commissioning collector asked for a controversial piece filled with neighborhood nasty-man perversion and so I gave it all I had!” Lol!
I have heard about his past run-ins with the law and his continued struggle with the police using his probation status to unjustly raid his home and leave it in shambles. It is clear that smear has left tagging behind and that he is dedicating his energy on producing fine art but yet they still harass him. I hope he doesn’t let that bring him down and that he uses it as energy to fuel his motivation and grow his skill. There is also a list of people who do not like his work and they are entitled to their opinion. I never disliked his work I just didn’t get it. Now I do and I am excited to see and purchase more of it. You can catch his new works at the Lawrence Asher Gallery this August 15. Go and stimulate your brain.
the show! 
PS: I probably described Abstract Expressionism or some other genre with my description of smears style or whatever the experts find his style falls under, but it so much better to write and talk about his style and what it does to me than to just to call it whatever label he’s considered under one or two words. This is also my interpretation of how I perceive his pieces which you will find I connect with transcendental philosophy. I am sure there are many interpretations and some might disagree with mine but no matter, it’s all left for interpretation, so tell me yours.
Comments
Hey this is a great article! I’m going to put a link up on my site. NicE!! See you at the show.
Jonny, LAG
See u there! Thanks jonny!
I’m glad that my work engages you on a spiritual level…I try to hit people where they never knew that they could be hit.
Awesome!
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