Artist's Trap The Depths Of Smith’s Work

Artist’s Trap
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Artist’s Trap
The name Anthony Peter Smith rings a bell in the minds of art enthusiasts and anyone who has spent time perusing the history of art. There have been several periods or eras in the field of art including expressionism and minimalism. Each of these eras have people who pioneered and used their work to advance the ideas behind them. Minimalism as an era in art came into the spotlight in the past few decades. However, it is quite relatable to life, and modern living and its features or attributes can be seen depicted in modern day living and objects. Anthony Peter Smith is among the chief pioneers of minimalist art. His unique sculptures and pieces of art have greatly contributed to the field of minimalism and abstract expressionism. It is for this reason that he is considered by many as the father of modern minimalism. In line with this, understanding the roots of minimalism would mean understanding the very life of the man who helped establish the field in the contemporary practice of art. This article thus seeks to dig deeper into Tony Smith’s works. It posits that understanding Tony Smith’s work by analyzing his pieces of art, historical contexts, and doing a comparison of Smith’s and Antony Gormley (a minimalist as well) will help in the comprehension of internal and external factors that contributed to Smith’s interest in the field.[Blumberg, Naomi., & Yalzadeh, Ida. “Tony Smith.” Encyclopedia Britannica December 22, 2018. /biography/Tony-Smith]
Before delving into the depths of Smith’s work, it is first crucial to describe what minimalism stands for. In her article, Inan notes that the word “minimalism which is derived from the word minimum in French means the least or the smallest amount needed for something.” From an artistic standpoint, Colpitt defines minimalism as “an artistic tendency whose ‘organizing principles’ were ‘the right angle, the square, and the cube…rendered with a minimum of incident or compositional maneuvering.’” The above definitions or descriptions may not seem similar, but they do help enhance the understanding of what minimalism stands for. Minimalism art mainly involves art that makes use of geometric shapes while encompassing simplistic arrangements.[Inan, Sukriye. “The Effects of Minimalist Movement of Painting Arts and Music.” International Journal on New Trends in Education and Their Implications 2014, Issue 1, pp. 11-22.] [Colpitt, F. (1990). Minimal Art: The Critical Perspective. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press.]
As the father of minimalism, one thing that stood out for Tony Smith was the differences in his sculptures and paintings. Looking at his paintings, one notices that they were rounded in nature something which is in stack contrast to his sculptures which appear angled. The tempera on paper which Smith painted in 1948 is a good example of how rounded his paintings were. However, the difference in the two is as a result of a shift in the tradition that Smith subscribed to which also signifies an important part of his life. Before he started working with sculptures, Smith “worked with architect Frank Lloyd Wright in Chicago.” Everyone Smith met along his path influenced his work including other notable individuals like Barnett Newman and Jackson Pollock. On the one hand, his paintings mimic the European Concrete Art while on the other hand, his sculptures take a unique turn. As indicated in his bio in Artsy, Smith’s work was not influenced by those who were before him. However, his work “was more closely aligned with a younger generation of artists, including Carl Andre, Sol Le Witt, and Donald Judd, who would define American art in the coming decade.”[Artsy. “Tony Smith.”...