Contact: Adam Strom (617) 277-1702, strom.adam@gmail.com
For Immediate Release
Boston Arts Academy’s Gordon Gallery to Exhibit “Kindling: Visual Essays” by Sandy Smith-Garcés
Boston—September 6, 2011
On September 20 through October 19, 2011, the Gordon Gallery will present Kindling: Visual Essays by Boston area artist Sandy Smith-Garcés. The show will feature three of Ms. Smith-Garcés’ graphite and white charcoal essays. Ms. Smith-Garcés’ work draws you in with the exquisite beauty of her draftsmanship and keeps you engaged with the provocative juxtaposition of her beautiful illustrations with difficult subject matter. The essay Kindling features gorgeous still life’s of bundles of wood floating over the words of several local mothers Smith-Garcés interviewed for the project. Their statements reflect on the plight of refugees from Darfur, Sudan and the local mother’s own relative ability to provide for their families. Each piece in the essay is literarily drawn from bundles of wood that the women gathered as part of the project. With simplicity and elegance, Smith-Garcés’ work manages to raise important global questions about the safety of women and the potential for violence without being over bearing.
A second series, The Perfect Stone features seven large format drawings of rocks, each one unique, distinct, and beautiful to look at. In the essay’s framing text we learn that a man in Somalia who was asked to organize and carry out a stoning of a 13 year old girl pondered the “perfect stone” with which to carry out his task. After reflection, he explained that the perfect stone is about the size of a man’s first. Not far from the drawings, Ms. Smith-Garcés is displaying her own pile of stones. On the floor they look harmless, and yet her images are likely to change the way you think about rocks forever.
The final series in the show, Is This the Answer?, features detailed drawings of medieval torture devises alongside historic Western proverbs. Ms. Smith-Garcés explains, “These medieval instruments of torture, real and imagined, are visual comments on the state of safety for women in the 21st century.” While the imagery in each of the series reflects a taste for the classic, their presentation—finely rendered drawing suspended in the middle of rough toned paper—is, in some ways, quite modern and surreal, and possibly the only way to comprehend the questions inherent in Smith- Garcés’ art.
Smith- Garcés explains:
I love the flexibility and delicacy of graphite and charcoal as I work on these images. The drawings subtlety invites intimacy while the stories themselves can be disturbing. These visual essays are an attempt to recreate for the observer my own experience of dismay over the continued vulnerability of women in the 21st century. These series reflect my own struggle to understand what is senseless, while hoping to raise awareness for the viewer.
Ms. Smith- Garcés received her Masters of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York where she was the recipient of Paula Rhodes Memorial Award for Excellence in Art. This is Smith- Garcés’ first show in the Boston area. The opening reception will be on September 22, 2011 and the artist will be present and available for interviews.
For more information, please visit smithgarcesart.com
Smith-Garcés Art 