Mark Elliott Smith

2006 BA (Hons) Fine Art University Plymouth

In my paintings I explore the realms of suggestive, enigmatic apparitions, seeing thoughts and ideas almost as patterns, interacting to define the optimum image in new forms and shapes which symbolise their existence. Prompted by a collection of my childhood drawings, which show a playful approach to the monsters of the imagination, my earlier self is revisited and explored in an ongoing reinterpretation, allied with visual resonances within the urban, contemporary scene. By altering and dramatising the scale of the original, often very small drawings, and representing chance actions in a controlled, deliberate way the process of painting reveals and amplifies previously hidden information, both visual and psychological, hinting at some kind of narrative beyond your conscious grasp.

What is sought, in this interaction between the abstract and the surreal, is a combination of spontaneity and control: a chaotic precision that extracts and re-presents the lost and found on an epic scale. Likewise, the titles of my paintings, though they parallel rather than describe the work, are precise and are chosen to function as micro-poems analogous to the images as they emerge and are defined.
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BA Hons Fine Art at Plymouth University, 2006

Solo Exhibitions:

2017 - Solo show by invitation of Trowbridge Arts, in association with Trowbridge Museum
2014 - Atkinson Gallery, Millfield School, Street
2012 - Out Of This World, Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, Bath
2011 - Science and Faith Collide, St James' Wine Vaults, Bath

Joint Shows:

2014 - Adam Gallery, Bath, Mark Elliott Smith and Douglas Jeal
2014 - Adam Gallery, London, Mark Elliott Smith and Douglas Jeal

Group Exhibitions:

2018 - The Bath Open Art Prize, 44AD, Bath
2018 - Town Hall Open Exhibition, Trowbridge
2017 - Different Perspectives, Store Street Gallery, London
2016 - The Art Gemini Prize, Asia House, London
2014 - State Of Flux, Create Centre, Bristol
2013 - The Atkinson Gallery Summer Show, Millfield School, Street
2012 - Transience, Walcot Chapel, Fringe Arts Bath
2011 - F.J. Harris Art Exhibition, Bath
2010 - Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, Fringe Arts Bath
2010 - Metamorphosis, BRSLI, Bath
2008 - Muse, Edgar Modern, Bath

Prizes and Awards:

2018 - The Bath Open Art Prize, 44AD, Bath : Shortlisted
2016 - The Art Gemini Prize, Asia House, London : Shortlisted
2013 - The Atkinson Gallery Summer Show, Millfield School, Street : Prize Winner​

Art Fairs:

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