Painter Erin Smith's TO THE MOON AND BACK Exhibition Opens Today at Amy Li Projects

Amy Li will exhibit Erin Smith, a young painter from Australia who recently completed a painting residency at Point B Work Lodge in Brooklyn, a fresh face on the New York City art scene. From colorful abstract expressionist portraits to more fully realized renderings of butcher shops and slabs of meat to deliciously vibrant ice cream cones, Smith's creative commentary ranges from satire to mockery. TO THE MOON AND BACK will be on view today, January 15 - March 8, 2015.

In 2014, Smith had a solo show at Jugglers Art Space in Australia and showed her work at the Affordable Art Fair London. Earlier, she exhibited in at the National Grid Gallery, Sydney, and was a finalist for the Clayton UTZ Art Prize, Brisbane and for the Clifts Art Prize, Cliftons Brisbane. Smith studied at the New York Studio School and received a Bachelor of Design Arts from the Australian Academy of Design.

Her works in oil are as evocative as those in Smith's other chosen medium of acrylic/ink/enamel spray paint and the juxtaposition of light washes and heavily layered paint reinforces contrast in many of her works.

"There will definitely be a dark side and a light side," she says. "Nothing like an asylum image right next to the wiener Mobile for a contrast. This work is somewhat energetic and happy, yet features very plain day-to-day or melancholic subjects -- I like the contrast."

Smith's body of work draws from a multitude of sources including the human figure, cultural iconography and the reexamination of locations once visited. She says she strives to find beauty in what may initially be perceived as mundane or melancholic.

Exhibition opens January 15th, 7-9pm. Amy Li Projects is located at 166 Mott Street, New York, NY 10013. Gallery hours are Weds-Sun 12-6pm and by appointment. www.amy-li.com.