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Portraits and Encounters

Brian Smyth

7th - 30th November 2019

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About “Portraits and Encounters”

 Is a collection of paintings, illustrating my response, through the medium of oil paint, of some of the aspects of the world around us and the people and objects we surround ourselves with.

These paintings, which encompass portraiture, landscape and still life subjects are painted in a realist style. I like to explore and crystallize images that express ideas related to harmony of form, value and colour and which also possess a sense of timelessness.  I like to allow a sense of play and overlap between the manner of painting the subject and the background.

The portraits in this exhibition are paintings worked directly from the sitter.  By working directly from life, the paintings are a record of observation, response and the encounter that took place between the painter and the sitter.

The still life paintings allow me to paint directly from the subject, as a means, not only of meditation on colour, form and composition but also allow me the opportunity to explore the painting of a variety of surfaces and reflections.

The landscape and city-scape paintings, allow me to escape the studio and paint directly from the motif. My city-scapes, in particular are explorations of the shapes, forms and energies of city life. They are peopled with figures in motion, interacting with the world they inhabit.

3 Figures is triptych that finds its origins in the 2004 Iraq War. 15 years on, the specific details of the circumstances may have become lost or forgotten, but the embodiment of precarious existence retains its eloquence.

• Brian Smyth 2019