This work dates from a period when Richard Smith, living between London and New York, began to look for other ways to work with, and against, the two-dimensionality of the canvas surface. The Lonely Surfer illustrates this inquiry: the work seems to gain a presence that goes beyond the physical limits of the canvas, due to the unpredictable force of blue that fills much of the surface.

The playful and engaging nature of this painting attracts the eye, to which Richard Smith leaves a significant role. For him, ‘the possibility of vulgarity, a different attitude towards scale and color, a redefenition of the spectator-painter relationship’, are key elements in his work. In The Lonely Surfer, a monumental box or surfboard occupies a central position, imposing itself on, and being taken in by, a restless, esquematically outlined sea. Aware of cinematic techniques and advertising, Richard Smith introduces an illusionist quality and a great dynamism in the composition, allowing the spectator the feeling of being faced with a scene or a passage from a movie.

The Lonely Surfer – the title alludes to a surf song by Jack Nitzsche which was a minor hit in the year the painting was made – crosses different understandings and influences: from Abstract Expressionism, the spontaneous nature and unexpected effects of the abrupt brush strokes and the splashes of paint and color treatment; from Pop Art, the themes; from Op Art, the bi-and three-dimensional constructions. The result is original and seems to point towards the artist’s following statement: ‘my interest is not in the message so much as in the method.’

 

 

MG

 

May 2010