Dimmitt Contemporary Art Austin is pleased to announce SPECTRA, an exhibition of paintings by Fort Worth-based artist John Holt Smith. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, November 2, 2024 from 5:00 - 7:00pm. The exhibition will be on view through November 23, 2024.
SPECTRA marks Smith’s debut solo exhibition with Dimmitt Contemporary Art showcasing his striking collection of paintings from his Oculus series. Smith is known for his paintings that are studies in ultimate abstraction, reducing figurative images to their most elemental state. Smith's ultra-methodical approach blends traditional and contemporary, organic and industrial, artistic and scientific processes. Always seeking ways to commingle figurative painting with progressive abstraction and photography, he discovered the visual bridge of color sequencing after learning about spectroscopy-a process that captures light from an object in space and uses that light to analyze its composition, position, and rate of movement. Smith achieves a multi-dimensional luminosity, at once the embodiment of traditional and contemporary aesthetics. The intricately layered lines shimmer and vibrate on their cool, flat support, creating palpable rhythm and depth throughout. The colors absorb and reflect light to produce a subtle glow that emanates from within, revealing the aesthetic and spiritual essence of both the structural components and the system they create.
John Holt Smith received a B.F.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he concurrently worked with artist Ann Hamilton on many exhibitions, including those at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. During college, he received the William Dole Scholarship and a President's Undergraduate Fellowship, and also spent a year in Florence, Italy, studying art and art history. Smith lives and works in Fort Worth, Texas.
