Anj Smith : A Willow Grows Aslant the Brook

29 Jan-6 Jun 2021

Overview

The New Art Gallery Walsall is delighted to present a major solo exhibition by renowned British painter Anj Smith. Comprising of 23 paintings and prints, the show includes new and recent works, some seen for the first time in Walsall. This is the largest presentation of the artist’s work in a UK public gallery to date and offers a rare opportunity to view a significant body of work together. Painting provides a platform where time, space, gravity and perspective can be shifting and unstable. Within this malleable construct, Smith is endlessly inventive and creative, bringing together diverse and disparate objects and environments. The familiar and the unfamiliar, the contemporary and the archaic; all interweave to create intense and often psychologically charged works. Rich in detail, colour and texture, the intricacy of these works invites a slowing down and an offer of respite from frenetic consumption. Each work is conceptually rigorous in its interrogation of the world around us. Drawing together source material ranging from designer fabrics and jewellery to the natural world, from the history of art and literature to popular culture, every detail is carefully selected and positioned to create multiple, fragmented and complex narratives. These seductively complex paintings draw us in, challenging assumptions and rejecting easy categorisation.