Robert Smith
"The GRAND minute"
Color Photographs
April 5 - 23, 2011
Reception Thursday, April 7th, 5 - 8 p.m.

Chelsea, NYC: Viridian Artists is pleased to present new photographs by Robert Smith. Entitled “The GRAND minute” and referring to size, not time, the exhibition opens Tuesday, April 5th and continues through Saturday, April 23rd. There will be a reception on Thursday, April 7th, 5 - 8 p.m. Smith relates a narrative of his mind’s eye consciousness within each image. The uncropped photographs are all comprised of relative close-ups of the undisturbed landscape in Point Lobos State Reserve in Carmel, California and on Monhegan Island, Maine. If you would accompany Smith on his journey through the landscape, chances are you would not be aware of what he is seeing. He has practiced a discipline, “Sensory Awareness,” for more than four decades. It has been called the Western Zen and through quiet centers him in the present moment. He acknowledges that it has given him a special way of seeing and informed his work. His fertile imagination encompasses both the whimsical and utmost seriousness and he lets the unaltered landscape reveal his own transformative storytelling. To assist the viewer, Smith has diligently crafted titles for each photograph to encourage others to share his personal vision. Needless to say, he believes there is a rich visual world right at our feet that simply goes unnoticed. He is out to open our eyes with these unusual photographs. Robert Smith lives and works in New York City and has a summer studio on Monhegan Island. There, in recent years, he has led groups in Steps to Seeing walks, sharing his way of viewing the landscape and offering the gift of greater visual awareness to others. Smith has had a wide range of solo and group exhibitions and is included in numerous private collections in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, South Africa and throughout Europe.