March 7th with Musical Performance by David B. Smith and Sam Morrison at 9pm

In his upcoming project Before and After at HQ Gallery, David B. Smith performs and documents a highly self-conscious creative process. He begins by arranging blank canvases, like building blocks, into various structures. Starkly photographing each one against a black background, the resulting primal images, like seeds, inspire a variety of playful works in various media. Painting, digital imaging, and sculpture are all referenced and these experiments are installed opposite the original photographs to provide space to explore the dynamics of possibility.

In the end, the artist has developed a body of work that simultaneously straddles a variety of media, without actually abandoning the photographic image. Using this hybrid practice, Smith responds to the gallery format in two different ways. First, the artist challenges the “no paintings allowed” mandate of a sculpture gallery with a show primarily focused on stretched canvasses. Second, Smith utilizes the gallery format to show a chronological documentation of his work as it moves from one form into the next and back again. The result of Smiths work is an exhibition that defies his chosen media while carefully scrutinizing and exposing his methodology.

David B. Smith lives and works in Brooklyn and recently completed an MFA in Photographic Studies at Bard/ICP. He works with a wide variety of media including photography, video, sculpture, drawing, sound, and installation. He has shown widely in New York, as well as in Washington D.C., Chicago, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Beijing.