About ian rayer-smith
I like my work to exude a raw human energy. I want the brutal act of making to be evident in the marks and on the surface.
I am interested in organic forms in decomposition. Soft and amorphous, they accentuate the tactile sense of nature. I avoid any notion of repetition, so as to create something new that will reveal surprising forms. By working quickly, intuitively, and obsessively, I create artworks that suggest a sense of other worldliness.
I begin each painting or sculpture with specific outcomes in mind, but allow myself to be directed by the piece I am making, embracing each accident and creating something new in the process. I tend towards a playful manipulation of everyday materials and imagery. It is a constant search, in which I respond to what is around me, picking up visual impulses, collecting them as thought, and by stages finding them absorbed into my work.
I use classical references, manipulating and transforming them until they lose their initial context and produce new meaning. Ultimately, the work reveals the physicality of the object and the sensory nature of the materials.
Exhibitions:
Forthcoming:
2017 April Zari Gallery, Fitzrovia, London. Solo Exhibition
Previous:
2016 October WCAF, Warrington Museum, Warrington. Group show
2016 September Manchester Buy Art Fair 2016
2016 June/July GM Arts Prize, Shortlisted Award 2016, Manchester
2016 March 'All is more is nothing' Solo show, Screaming Gander Contemporary Art, Manchester
2016 February 'Neo Renaissance' Fishslab Gallery, Whitstable. Solo show
2016 January 'Artrooms London 2016, International Art Fair
2015 October 'Romantica' - 40 small paintings, Screaming Gander, Manchester. Solo show
2015 August/Sept 'Making up for lost time', Stockport Museum and Art Gallery, Stockport/ Gtr Manchester. Solo show
2015 July/Sept 'The destruction of anything familiar', Gallery at Bank Quay House, Warrington. Solo show
2015 June 'Pure Painting' Bar Gallery, London, NW2. Group show
2015 May 'The Open West' The Wilson Art Gallery, Cheltenham
2015 May 'The destruction of anything famliar' Screaming Gander, Manchester
2015 March 'New Artist Fair' 2015, Islington London
2014 October 'Six Months On' Solo exhibition, Screaming Gander, Manchester
2014 October Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival, Warrington Musuem
2014 April 'Flabbergasted!' Solo exhibition, Screaming Gander, Manchester
2013 October 'Synthesis' Festival of Art and Science, Manchester
2013 August 'Off Kilter' Group Show, Manchester
2013 July 'Beautiful Things' Group show, Albert Dock, Liverpool
2013 June 'BA Hons Degree Show, Media City, Salford
2013 May '6.3 x 5 (at odds) Joint Show, Piccadilly, Manchester
2012 April ‘New Blood’ Group Show, Manchester
2011 May ‘WFTL' Group Show, Manchester
2010 September GNT Art Exhibition, Solo Show, Manchester
2010 April Centenary Art Show, Group Show, Salford
2008 April Juice Hub Gallery, Solo Show, Bristol
