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In Search of Memory: New Work in Color, an exhibition of works by Texas artist Mark Stephen Smith, will be on display December 5 - January 3 at William Campbell Contemporary Art. An opening reception will be held Friday, December 5, 5:00-8:00 p.m. The exhibition will include new abstract paintings in high-density pigment on Baltic birch panels. Richly crafted and visually captivating, the pieces are also highly analytical, informed by Smith's keen interest in neuroscience and brain function.

The essence of Mark Smith's art resides largely in his creative process: a three-part evolutionary approach consisting of scholarly research, detailed planning, and finally, painting. Such a process allows the artist to fully explore the intellectual, conceptual, and visual elements involved in his work. Smith initiated this body of work by studying, at length, the relationship between brain physiology and its impact on creativity. Specifically, he is interested in the concept of synesthesia - a phenomenon wherein one sensory experience involuntarily activates a response from another sense, e.g. envisioning a color upon hearing a certain sound.

This type of multi-sensory encounter is evident in Smith's piece Morning Painting #16, which employs strong directional lines to convey a sense of tactile movement, and perhaps sound. Intricately layered bands of color travel across the panorama as they build on one another to create texture and dimension-much like a lifetime of experiences collect in both the hidden and apparent areas of the brain. Meanwhile, a graceful ribbon-like line threads in and out of the bands, meandering along the vertical axis as if to signify the specific memory that has emerged from the cerebral depths.

"The brain has a mind of its own," says Smith, and In Search of Memory is a journey through the landscape of that mind. After studying the principles of brain mechanics, Smith has uncovered a wealth of previously latent memories. These revelations materialize as color narratives-nonrepresentational, yet autobiographical. The paintings in this collection are visualizations of Smith's earliest memories, beginning at only three years of age. They share elements of abstraction and complexity, depicted by individual swaths of soft, deep hues that fuse together to create one cohesive tale.

MARK SMITH
Summer of Love - Cascade
2008
48 x 64 inches

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mark Stephen Smith is a professor of art at Austin College in Sherman, Texas. He earned an MFA from Queens College of the City University of New York, and a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute. Smith has exhibited work extensively throughout North Texas and the United States, and has exhibited at William Campbell Contemporary Art since 1985. He has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Edith Baker Gallery, the University of Texas at Dallas, and the Kimbell Art Museum, and in group exhibitions at the Amarillo Museum of Art, the Art Center of Waco, the Arlington Museum of Art and currently his work can be seen at the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi. His work is featured in the collections of several national corporations, including Citicorp, Chase Manhattan Bank, Nokia, Neiman-Marcus, and Texas Instruments.

ABOUT THE GALLERY

Founded in 1974 by William and Pam Campbell, William Campbell Contemporary Art exhibits high-quality contemporary art in a variety of media, including paintings, works on paper, mixed-media constructions, photography, prints, ceramics, and sculpture. By exhibiting nationally recognized artists, along with new and emerging talent, the gallery aims to nurture an awareness and appreciation of the exciting diversity found in contemporary art.