Smith explores his neighborhood at the golden hour, that time of day when the sun is low, the shadows are long and the light is transitory and fleeting. Finding the abstract in everyday life, he captures the graphic shapes cast by signs, traffic lights, and street lights with his camera. He then manipulates his photographs, creating high contrast, deeply textured images and paints the shapes on found objects such as old signs, rusted bits of metal and other broken down bits of a fading neighborhood.
The photographs in this exhibit, in appreciation of Greenpoint, capture snippets of light that illuminate a neighborhood in transition – vinyl siding, wrought iron railings, chain link fences, peeling paint. Details that, for better or for worse, will disappear as high rise apartment buildings replace the existing three story row houses and low slung industrial buildings.
In the graphic sign shadows, the message and meaning of the signs are obscured. The shapes point and seem to give direction, but to where? They are signs devoid of meaning, the shapes evoking characters from an unknown language, message unknown.
Watch a stop animation video of the streetshadows installaton, featuring music by the Fleshtones.
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