The Incomparable Yhana Evonne No. 3, 2022

“I make artwork that’s filled with rich dense spaces. These spaces coalesce into vibrant worlds where I often play out moral, political, or philosophical fantasies using calligraphic gestures. I often layer and then erase work I’ve spent hours producing simply to capture the ghost of what came before. I tell stories. I tell stories within stories. I tell stories that are not always meant to be perceived by the viewer. These are my secret work. I always leave a morsel that viewers can grab hold of, be it a friendly gesture, appealing color, or familiar image that, like breadcrumbs, I hope leads the viewer on a journey of discovery. I make overwhelming work because the world for me is overwhelming. Then from time to time, and as a respite from the noise, I paint over it all with a happy landscape that thinly masks the cacophony just beneath the surface.”

Anthony Smith received a B.A. in Fine Arts from Amherst College (1999) and an M.F.A. in Painting from the University of Michigan (2001). He’s showed nationally in “From Here on Out” at Gallery Marzen/ IAG in Madison Wisconsin in 2020, the “Mid-Atlantic Painting 2016” exhibit at the University of Mary Washington Fredericksburg, VA in 2016; the 2010 “Sailing the Barbarous Coast” which traveled to Boston and Amherst, Ma and Milwaukee, Wi; and notably the 2008 “Runaway” show at the University of Texas Pan-American Gallery in McAllen TX for which he received a Puffin Foundation grant. In 2022 he will also exhibit in a solo show “Secret Worlds” at the Blair Academy in Blairstown, NJ. Additionally, he has received a Project Stream grant from the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts for the Pilot series of paintings exhibited in the show Dreadnaught at the ArtsQuest SteelStacks Center in Bethlehem, PA in 2018. Internationally he’s shown in the “Tribute to Michelangelo” show at CrisolArts Gallery in Barcelona, Spain in 2013, and in various Pennsylvania exhibitions including at the Bethlehem House Gallery in 2016, 2019 and 2022, and in “The New Normal” at Moravian University’s Payne Gallery in 2021.  He’s been reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Detroit Free Press, The Ann Arbor News and the Artist’s Magazine. Smith has taught at such institutions as the University of Michigan, Parsons, Princeton and Maryland Institute College of Art. Additionally he served as artist-in-residence at the National Academy of Design (2006 – 2008), and at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT in 2016 and 2022. Most recently he’s taught at Muhlenberg College in Allentown Pa (2014- 2018) and currently teaches Drawing and Painting at Northampton Community College in Bethlehem, PA. He lives in Allentown Pa with a studio at the Banana Factory Art Center in Bethlehem, PA where he also serves as the artist-liaison for the residential artist program.

 

Shown on website: Love Language, 2022