Body horror and alternative fashion fueled the antagonism between angels and demons in Winnie Smith’s `28 first solo exhibition, “Angels and Demons,” at the Edith Renfrow Smith `37 Gallery.
The exhibition, which ran from Sept. 5 through Sept. 17, included mixed-media pieces, combining digital prints, oil painting and embroidery.
The exhibition developed from Smith’s exploration of “the concept of angelic and demonic forms specifically through distortion of the body,” she said. In several works, bodies are pictured with repeated eyes, horns and distorted body parts.
“I wanted to see if I could create something that looks otherworldly, but also, that could reasonably have at one point been human,” Smith said.
Contemporary online depictions of biblically accurate angels provided an early influence for the project, she said. Smith cited Junji Ito, a Japanese horror manga artist, as an influence.
“I really get a lot of inspiration from Junji Ito and his horror art,” Smith said. “I wanted to explore horror art and body horror specifically.”
The idea of awe became another point of reference while Smith was creating the works.
“That feeling of like, ‘wow, this is beautiful, but this is also terrifying at the same time,’” Smith said. While some pieces more explicitly resemble angels or demons, Smith added, she did not want to establish a clear division between the two categories.
Smith said she was interested in taking those depictions beyond familiar forms such as a seraph, a type of heavenly being, and developing individual approaches to angelic and demonic figures.
“I wanted to leave it up to interpretation and let the viewer decide what they think is a demon versus an angel,” Smith said.
Smith said she became interested in the project after researching artists who depict alternative fashion and finding relatively few artists who specifically centered gothic and emo styles.
“I was trying to explore alternative people existing as they are and put them in a fine art setting,” Smith said. “The idea of intentionally picking out your clothing and intentionally dressing to what makes you feel most like you is really inspiring to me.”
Several of the pieces featured embroidery on the paintings. Smith first experimented with embroidery on canvas during her first year, she said, now approaching the technique more intentionally in her gallery, using it to create focal points and additional layers.
Smith’s most personal work was her portrait titled “Angel,” based on Angel Arroyo-Bedolla `26.5, because of the amount of time she spent painting and embroidering it.
The process of putting together the exhibition was also new for Smith. After applying for a Smith Gallery show in the past spring, she learned shortly before the beginning of the semester that her proposal had been accepted.
“I’ve had one or two art pieces in gallery shows before, but it’s never been my art exclusively,” Smith said. “It’s all very new to me.”