Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios announces the reopening of the building with a new exhibition featuring the work of renowned British artist Colin Smith. It is set to open throughout the public spaces at Riverside on 17 May 2021, running until 1 August, and is intriguingly titled The Square Root of Minus One.
Smith’s work is included in the permanent collections of galleries and museums around the world – including the Tate, the Sharjah Museum and Art Gallery in the UAE, and the Museum of Modern Art in Tel Aviv, as well as in numerous private and corporate collections. This is a rare chance to see his work in London as he is currently living and working in Belgium, and has spent much of his career living in the USA, Sweden and Spain.
“Colin brings a powerful imagination to his work which is simply beautiful and thought provoking,” Riverside’s Creative Director Rachel Tackley said. “We’re absolutely delighted that he has agreed to exhibit with us and share his vision with our visitors.”
Smith draws on the everyday for the subject matter of his paintings, which are deliberately enigmatic, leaving the interpretation in the hands and imagination of the viewer. “One of the joys of Colin’s work is that it is immediately visually accessible while still being complex and multi-layered. As a viewer we feel both safe and challenged at the same time,” Tackley said.
The exhibition aims to “Reposition the Real or Everyday which we necessarily take for granted, yet so often remain unexamined,” says Colin Smith. “There is no one meaning to any of these works other than that which the viewer brings to them. Only rarely will the titles give any hint as to an intention, and usually just state the obvious.”
To explain the role of the artist in the world, Smith leans on the words of playwright Samuel Beckett who said: ‘To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of the artist now.’
This sentiment underpins the selection of work in the exhibition which opens at Riverside on 17 May and runs until 21 August. Riverside Studios is reopening in line with government advice and following current social distancing guidelines. The exhibition is free to all visitors.
