[ B I O G R A P H Y ]

Frank Anthony Smith has some powerfully iconographic works among those produced since 1971. On one level, paint is all they are, applied by air brush or other means. On a second level, according to the artist himself, they are stand-ins or surrogates; on yet a third level, they are structural elements in gravity-defying, involuted balancing acts performed in layers of incredibly complex pictorial space. The inherent eeriness of airbrush work in paintings not intended for advertisements catches the eye in an initial double take, tricks them into a state of ‘almost readiness’ for the illusionistic conjuring acts that follow. The seemingly inanimate boards, orbs, and sticks in some of these works also have a curious presence. “I think of my paintings as gifts for people to enjoy. I don’t consider art important nor do I think of it as more noble and grand than it is.”