My paintings involve the manipulation of objects in dramatic relationships, within a fluctuating space between the physical painted surface and ambiguous illusion. I compose schematic languages as a parallel set of relationships that can reinforce the object relationships or conflict with them. These schematic languages, often layered with found charts or information, establish a different dimension to the work that offers the viewer another place of resonance. The birch plywood material extends the painted layers of information and allows for penetration and superimposition of found objects into the surface. I have been developing two bodies of recent work – one based on landscape and the other based on portraiture. I have been transcribing landscapes into schematics that unearth a kind of intelligence found in the land. These transcriptions are inspired by the Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas, or the landscapes depicted in the "Big Bend" paintings of mid 20th Century regionalist Alexandre Hogue. The relationship of objects act out, or offer a counterpoint scenario to, these landscape transcriptions. I have also developed an alternative approach to portraiture, researching aspects of an individual's life and work, then painting from the subsequent vocabulary of objects and schematics – creating an abstraction of their life.

Nelson Smith, 2009