Amelie A. Wallace Gallery is pleased to share the virtual exhibition Another World: The Textile Art of David B. Smith, which goes live on January 25, 2021. David B. Smith digitally alters photographic images of his daily life and images drawn from personal memory, and then prints the images on fabric that he crafts into objects and images that speak to the interconnections between digital and organic experience. Viewers will be immersed in Smith’s dream-like world, and invited to analyze and interact with his methods. Various artistic exercises are introduced to viewers and artist-made audio guides are available, along with brief texts on each work.
This virtual exhibition presents Smith’s Photo-Textile works, which he has been developing since 2013. Shown chronologically are large-scale wall hangings, soft-sewn sculptures, a jacket and other works. Smith blends art history, science fiction, and video games with home crafts that not only honor, but also reconceive our connection to tradition while reimagining societal institutions. His working method begins with personally resonant photographic images from his physical and digital life that he weaves into tapestries. He cuts, sews, folds, layers, stuffs, upholsters, drapes, embroiders, paints, and dyes to create works he calls ‘image-objects’. Smith’s bulbous, serpentine, soft-sculptures suggest the Hellenistic Laocoön Group and the eccentric abstract sculptures of Yayoi Kusama. Much of Smith’s work exists at the intersection of identity, where biology, technology, and late-stage capitalism affect how we see each other and ourselves, a locus to consider how self-knowledge might lead to a just society. Smith says he is inspired by José Esteban Muńoz's work on queer futurity, Mel Y. Chen's blurring definitions of human and animal, and Michael Talbot's "The Holographic Universe."
David B. Smith holds an MFA from Bard College. He has been awarded a NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship (Craft/Sculpture), an Apex Art International Fellowship (New Zealand), and residencies by Socrates Sculpture Park, Millay Colony, Textile Arts Center, and Institute for Electronic Arts, NY. Smith’s work has appeared at MoMA PS1, The International Center of Photography, Asia Song Society, and 56 Henry Gallery. Recent solo shows were presented at Halsey McKay Gallery, The Spring Break Art Show, LMAK Gallery, and Eckert Art Gallery. His work has been discussed in The New York Times, The Observer, Art Fag City, The Washington Post, and Miami New Times. Smith served as an adjunct professor in the Visual Arts Department at SUNY College at Old Westbury from 2009 through 2013.
The exhibition may be accessed via www.amelieawallacegallery.org. Smith will give a talk and workshop on March 16, 2021 from 1:00 to 2:30 pm EDT. In order to join the zoom meeting, please register at https://suny-ow-edu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYsd-6sqzgqH9z6At1rXqJOnVeVFzVVj9v5
About Amelie A. Wallace Gallery:
Formally dedicated on May 22, 1979, the Gallery is named for the late Amelie Alexanderson Wallace in recognition of her unflagging support of the College and her personal commitment to the arts at Old Westbury. The Gallery exhibits Contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists, as well as works by faculty and students of the Visual Arts Department. Public programs designed to accompany exhibitions comprise lectures and discussions led by artists and curators, as well as live performances and video presentations.
