Brighton Smith | Paradise Garden
Exhibition Dates: March 19 – April 23, 2022
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 19, 2022, 3 – 5pm
Skidmore Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the sixth solo show for Arizona based artist, Brighton Smith. Paradise Gardens opens to the public on Saturday, March 19th 2022 with a reception for the artist from 3 – 5 pm. Refreshments will be served. The exhibition will feature a vibrant collection of Smith’s floral oil paintings. Skidmore Contemporary Art is located at the internationally renowned creative arts complex Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA.
Brighton Smith lives and works in Scottsdale, Arizona. He earned a BA from Pepperdine University in 2013 and is working towards his MFA from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Smith’s exhibition explores the concepts and elements of what comprises a “Paradise Garden.” The term refers to the Persian philosophy of divine paradise here on earth. The artist states “I am fascinated and obsessed by the natural beauty of things – especially plant forms.” He explains that obsession is not the same as inspiration, which he views as fatalist in nature; rather he is consumed with his observations and photography of nature. An enthusiastic art historian, Smith devours the history of gardens and the introduction of individual flowers into our cultural lexicon.
When it comes to his process, Smith describes it as a spiritual and meditative endeavor – “My goal with making a painting is always that others might see the still, calm, quiet of a flower in the way I do.” With Paradise Garden Smith has pushed a sense of abstraction further, while capturing the essence of his observation of nature. Smith aptly describes the exhibition as his most authentic group of paintings to date.
Skidmore Contemporary Art is located in Santa Monica at Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Avenue, Suite B4. Gallery hours are Tues-Sat 10-5pm. For more information visit skidmorecontemporaryart.com, email gallery@skidmorecontemporaryart or call (310) 828 – 5070.
Lia Skidmore has been an art dealer and advisor to art collectors for over thirty years. Her gallery Skidmore Contemporary Art opened in Malibu in 1998. In 2009, the gallery relocated to Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. In addition to the exhibition program, the gallery provides collectors with art advisory services and art market analysis for the discreet acquisition and resale of works of American Post-War and Contemporary Art.
Brighton Smith, 2021, Birds of Paradise, Oil on canvas, 48” x 36”