Angela Smith

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time” Thomas Merton
Painting and drawing are central to my art practice and allows me to explore the space between fact and fiction. I'm interested in the possibilities of narrative, however suggestive, and in invoking atmosphere and emotion. The figure is also central in my work but it is rarely about the subjects themselves, rather a complex layering of emotion, experience and imaginings.
Whilst I am primarily a painter I love the immediacy and flexibility that can come from working in pencil and coloured pen. I have always been drawn to the back of a figures and I’m interest in how much can be conveyed through the way the figure inhabits the space of the painting or drawing.
The Paper Doll Series has developed over some time when I became interested in using flat pattern in contrast with the almost hyper-realism of the figure. The idea behind “Paper Dolls” stems from the childhood memories of occupying myself with cutting out paper dolls (and their outfits) that often featured in the Bunty and Judy annuals.