Laurel Smith

Contemporary Artist: Minimal Painter

Laurel Smith was born near the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Her paintings echo that environment. The early works were constructed by applying the sludge residue of recycled oil paints onto shaped canvases. These paintings are reminiscent of the geological strata of rock formations. The shadows cast by the shaped canvases informed and evolved into her minimal paintings that cast reflected color onto the wall. Her newest body of paintings combine two diametrically opposed design styles: the austerity of 20C Minimalism and ornate embellishment of 17C Rococo into a form that Smith coins "Ornaminimalism." Smith combines industrial with handmade techniques by applying more than twenty glazes of colors to create an all-over surface upon her custom laser cut panels. The dense color of the multi-layered surface contrasts the borders of the paintings' edges. These contrasting edges and their shadows activate the wall as an ornamental element thereby expanding the traditional boundaries and impact that Smith's paintings have upon their surround. Her works reflect her longstanding fascination of class and taste. Smith states, "The paintings reflect my view of contemporary society's excessive consumer c...

Laurel Smith earned her BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design, Calgary, and a MFA from Concordia University, Montreal. She is the recipient of several awards including: Canada Council for the Arts; Alberta Foundation for the Arts; Eastern Canada Winner of the RBC Investments 6th Annual Painting Competition; The Brucebo Foundation; Concordia University Fellowship; Sheila Hugh MacKay Foundation; and she was awarded both the Illingworth Kerr Travel Award and the Illingworth Kerr Academic Achievement Awards.

Smith has exhibited across North America and in Europe. Her work is part of the 2007-8 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art exhibition (Living Utopia and Disaster) at the Alberta Art Gallery in Edmonton and Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff. Smith's solo exhibition "Ornaminimalism" will be presented at Peak Gallery in Toronto peakgallery.com along with an accompanying catalog by the same title. Recent exhibitions include Nickle Arts Museum (About Time: Contemporary Painting in Calgary), Peak Gallery (LS is more), Paul Kuhn Gallery (Unrepentant Exposure I and II), the Edmonton Art Gallery, New Brunswick Museum of Art, McMaster Art Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto, (RBC Painting Co...