After her collaborative exhibition with Genesis Belanger at Perrotin New York, alumna Emily Mae Smith (BFA in Studio Art, 2002) opens MATRIX 181, her first solo museum exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
With a nod to distinct painting movements in the history of art, such as Symbolism, Surrealism, and Pop art, Smith creates lively compositions that offer sly social and political commentary. Her lexicon of signs and symbols begins with her avatar, derived from the broomstick figure from Disney’s Fantasia (1940). Simultaneously referring to a painter’s brush, a domestic tool associated with women’s work, and the phallus, the figure continually transforms across Smith’s body of work. By adopting a variety of guises, the broom and other symbols speak to contemporary subjects, including gender, sexuality, capitalism, and violence.
Juxtapoz sat down with Smith prior to the exhibition opening to ask about her new work derived from a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson about the mysterious Lady of Shalott. Smith responds,
I'm kind of looking at it with my very subjective interpretation of my interest. I think I have a kinda feminist read or reinterpretation of the painting because it's like an incredible metaphor for the state of the Victorian woman—sort of trapped in a cycle of invisible labor, who has to experience the world through the lens of someone else. I feel so connected with this bizarre cycle that's in this painting, so I'm working on a few paintings inspired by sections of this painting.
Additional reviews of the exhibition can be found in the Hartford Courant and Art Daily.
MATRIX 181 will be on view at the Wadsworth Atheneum from February 7 – May 5, 2019.