"As
a child, the written word meant less to me than the mysterious visual
signs, symbols and rituals of adult society. They held unbelievable
power, promising the magical key to understanding the strange world
around me."
This
short personal statement from an early exhibition catalogue says almost
as much about Caroline Smith's painting as one would need to know. Born
in 1943 of Anglo-Italian descent, the daughter of a passionate and prolific
Sunday painter, Caroline Smith was an outstanding student during her
years at Reigate College of Art. Her originality won her the opportunity
to travel, and gave her the devotion to paint and work through the difficult
years that seem inevitable for the really innovative artist. Now in
her early sixties, with paintings in public buildings and important
private collections Caroline's international reputation is growing.
Married with one grown-up son, a talented musician, she splits her life
between a farmhouse in the Sussex countryside and a beautiful old Charentaise
house in France.
For the last twenty years Caroline has worked towards her own unique
mode of painting. Uninfluenced by current art fads and "movements"
her work is a direct link to the earliest roots of artistic expression.
The symbols and images that inhabit her vibrant and powerful paintings
carry the same message as the earliest cave painting, Greek vase, or
Egyptian temple wall.
Her ability to handle, colour, two dimensional form and space in her
compositions is a measure of her maturity as a painter. Caroline Smith's
earlier work displays an immaculate and controlled technique that gave
emphasis to her impeccable draughtsmanship. Almost impossible to discover
how and with what they were painted, the technique was totally subservient
to the image. Not a brushstroke to detract from the message.
In the last few years a series of almost naively direct brushy gouaches
and oils have opened up a more immediate side to Caroline's talents.
An obsession with the hot chalky colours of the Mediterranean coast
coupled with the historic anecdotal imagery of the Etruscan art that
still pervades this area has led to a freedom of expression which is
the highpoint of this unique and original artist's present work.
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