The power of nostalgia coupled with the essence of the American agrarian landscape creates two poles of artist Doug Smith’s imagery. Smith combines the exuberance of abstract expressionism and the arresting intimacy of the realistically familiar. Early inspiration and a love of natural shapes originate from childhood travels through the country where the young artist glimpsed fleeting patches of geometric land from the backseat of a car. After his first trip by plane, he was mesmerized by the textures and patterns of the fields as they define the land into shapes from above.
Under Cloud Nine, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36"
Traditional farmhouses and weathered barns punctuate the extensive plains that demonstrate his key elements of color, line and texture. His pieces have moods and emotions that evoke timelessness and a sense of vast distance and space. Some of his paintings depict specific locals while others are more composite memories of all these places.
A Barn Yarn, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48"
His work has been exhibited at galleries and museums across the United States, including a 2014 solo exhibition at the Desert Caballeros Western Museum in Arizona. In 2013 his work was exhibited along with other American artists at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Smith also has paintings in the permanent collections of the Rockwell Museum in Corning, New York, and Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville, Georgia.
Old Mac Donald’s Place, acrylic on canvas, diptych, 36 x 72"Decades ago, Smith came across an interesting agrarian anonymous quote that moved him: “Man, despite his sophistication and his many accomplishments, owes his existence to a 6-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains.” —
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