Word: smithing
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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This Cubist idea inspired Smith, in works like Structure of Arches (1939), to break down the elements of his subject into two dimensional forms and reassemble them into a visually two dimensional whole which nonetheless occupies three dimensional space. In Structure of Arches, Smith uses a very different stylistic approach than in Saw Head. He composed Saw Head out of found objects whereas he designed the parts for Structure of Arches ahead of time and fabricated them to fit his design. In addition, Structure of Arches has no organic allusion, as Saw Head does. Structure of Arches is very angular...
...forties, Smith explored this illusionary effect of two dimensionality in a new way with a small welded piece called Head as Figure. Here, Smith made three planar compositions and put them together at right angles. By visual association, the flatness of each of these three units gives the total sculpture an over-all illusion of two dimensionality. If the viewer forgets, for the moment, what he knows about the volume of the sculpture he can see it as a two dimensional composition...
...Smith did a number of monumental sized sculptures in which he drew flat figures using metal strips as line. In Australia (1951), the basic description of the figure is strictly two dimensional. This over-all quality forces the viewer to see even the volumetric elements which expand out beyond the picture plane, as part of the same two dimensional surface...
...dimensional effect of these sculptures is heightened by the continuity of space -- the absence of distractions -- which a landscape, the sky in particular, provides. Most of Smith's sculpture done after 1950 demands to be seen outdoors...
...Smith's late works move freely in a full three dimensional space. They rely upon visual illusions to force the viewer to see the works as if they occupy a single plane. In Zig VII, the over-all context of the piece, created by the individual parts, is planar and hence the flat discs tend to suggest two dimensional representation of perpective rather than a tangible volumetric depth...