LifeStyle Magazine - Mavis Smith: Underneath the Layers

Mavis Smith: Underneath the Layers

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Written by Shannon Collins

Mavis Smith is an artist who knows how to cover a canvas.

In the narrative theater of Smith’s pieces, the mundane becomes mythic, and an irreverent realism infuses her scenes with an unmistakable theatricality. Her paintings are full of small seductions, with a delicious handling of drapery and clothing. Her deadpan depictions of life blend a kind of adolescent eroticism and suburban disaffection that alludes to ambiguous narratives, with delicacy and, at times, a subtle sense of humor. For the past several years, Smith has worked in egg tempera, a medium that she has felt “amazingly comfortable with” since she was introduced to it in 2002 when she attended a workshop being taught by Koo Schadler.

“Working with egg tempera does have a certain peaceful, meditative quality to it,” said Smith. This particular kind of paint is manufactured by the artist, which involves a simple process of mixing finely ground pigment, water and diluted egg yolk. The application, however, is a little trickier, explained Smith. “You apply layer upon layer of semi-transparent color to eventually build up this beautiful luminous paint surface. The paint has to be applied to a rigid surface so that it won’t crack. In my case, I use true gesso panels, which I also make myself.”

In Smith’s pieces, her style runs the gamut from hyperrealism to surrealism, with eerie intimations reminiscent of contemporary surrealists like de Chirico and classic academics such as Balthus. Her deadpan depiction of life hints at the existence of fantasy within the literal and familiar. Smith’s most recent works blend the epic and banal in beautifully painted atmospheres, sometimes incorporating repeated text with her figures. With a finely tuned palette of pale colors, Smith paints broad, simplified spaces wherein she stages suggestive stories involving mostly women.

In Night Pool, a young woman gazes Olympia-like at the viewer. The exquisite details of her clothing and the room in the foreground dramatically contrast with the bright, vivid background of the night sky and the glow of the pool. Acorn Girl, a curvaceous femme fatale is immaculately rendered, as she looks vacantly out of the canvas. The Somnambulist, a portrait of a poolside sleepwalker, won the Lydell and Barbara Christensen Award at this year’s Phillips’ Mill Art Exhibition, the first and most continuous art event exhibiting the works of Delaware Valley artists.

“Most of my subjects are real people, but once I am involved in the actual reverie of painting, my imagination tends to take over,” said Smith. “I feel my most successful paintings walk a very subtle line between beautiful imagery and a hard to define surreal oddness.”

Smith draws from film, music, and books, as well as artists such as Frida Kahlo, de Chirico, John Currin and Ridley Howard, all of whom merge into her surprisingly strange and daydreamy world.

Not only does Smith thrive in the fine arts, she has also created children’s books for about fifteen years, illustrating at least 75, and writing 10 of her own. “I always really enjoyed illustration, and think it was key to developing a work discipline. About five years ago when a very popular series I was working on was coming to an end, I decided to concentrate on my painting. This more or less coincided with my finding egg tempera as a medium, so I guess you could say it was meant to be,” she said.

Smith attended Pratt Institute in New York City, and has exhibited in New York and Philadelphia, as well as many local venues, including the Michener Museum and Bucks Gallery of Fine Art. Her pieces will be on display as part of the Woman: Scared & Profane exhibit at the Walter Randel Gallery in New York City from March 27th through May 15th, 2008.

To view more of her artwork, visit www.mavissmithart.com.

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