Doug Smithenry 
Portfolio | Biography
 

“Just when I think painters have done it all, someone comes up with images unlike any I've seen before,” said Fred Camper, of the Chicago Reader, referring to the work of Doug Smithenry.

 Chicago Reader Review
Harper's Magazine Spread

 With every technology that contends with art comes the reality that art is timeless – redefining itself, adapting and incorporating would-be successors. Nowhere else is that more evident than in the works of Chicago-based Smithenry. He culls images of people and landscapes from the Internet as his only source for generating art. The outcome is often an intentionally flighty collection of paintings that mirror the arbitrary nature of search engine results.

"The Internet’s impact on our lives has provided me with a fertile ground for mining ideas of which to create art,” he said. “We have a need to categorize the information around us in order to achieve a sense of our world.”

Random figures oscillate, twirl and dance from panel to panel in a manner reminiscent of Web sites. Playfully distorted and contorted images of archetypal people recall the manipulative abilities of photo software. Smithenry even parodies the nuances of his flat-panel display and glossy digital prints as he crumples up the paper and flattens it with a rolling pin.
 
Artist Statement

"The paintings in my latest series of work are the result of choosing to use images of people and landscapes culled from the Internet as my only source of subject matter for generating art. The outcome of this self-imposed problem is an intentionally silly and flighty collection of paintings that mirror the arbitrary nature of search engine results produced from legions of Internet images. The disjointed quality of web searches is emphasized by displacing the figures in environments divorced from their original surroundings. The painted figures have also been distorted sequentially by running them through a series of filters on the computer, imparting a dizzying effect similar to prolonged sessions of Internet use. The resulting contortions are presented serially in groups of threes or fours, representing a light weight attempt at categorization. As these electronic images have been transcribed into paint, this traditional medium stabilizes and seals the fleeting attributes of digitized visual information, steadying it for contemplation. "
- Doug Smithenry

Biography

Doug Smithenry holds a BFA in Painting and an MA in Art Education from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. He also earned an MFA in Painting from Washington University in St. Louis in 1991.

Smithenry has had solo exhibitions at Aron Packer Gallery in Chicago, VIVEZA Gallery and Atelier 31 Gallery in Seattle as well as at Coker College, South Carolina; Lakeland College, Wisconsin; Indianapolis Art Center; and the Kansas City Artist’s Coalition Gallery. He has exhibited in many group exhibitions across the United States and was recently included in a five-person show at the GAS art gallery in Turin, Italy.

In 2005, Smithenry was awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship Grant from the Illinois Arts Council. He was also selected as a finalist in the 2001 Young Painter’s Competition at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He has been awarded five residencies at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois, and participated in the 2000 Studios Midwest Summer Residency Program in Galesburg, Illinois. Smithenry’s paintings have been reproduced in Harper’s Magazine, The Common Review, and in the book Living Artists 2005 by Ivy Sundell. His work was reviewed by Fred Camper in the Chicago Reader.

Selected Solo Shows

2006
Viveza Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2005
Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Viveza Gallery, Seattle, Washington
College of Lake County, Grayslake, Illinois

2004
Atelier 31 Gallery, Seattle, Washington
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

2003
Kansas City Artist’s Coalition, Kansas City, Missouri
Atelier 31 Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Coker College, Hartsville, South Carolina
Lakeland College, Sheyboygan, Wisconsin

2002
Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, Illinois
Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, Indiana,

Selected Group Shows

2005
Living Artist Invitational, Fine Arts Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Cows & Cowboys, VIVEZA Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2004
Tra Est e Ovest, GAS Art Gallery, Turin, Italy
Rosso, Atelier 31 Gallery, Seattle, Washington
Disparate Visuals, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan

2003
Guest List, gescheidle, Chicago, Illinois
Politics as Usual, Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Fundamentally Small, Atelier 31 Gallery, Seattle, Washington

2002
16th Evanston + Vicinity Biennial, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, Illinois
An Amuse Bouse, Zg Gallery, Chicago, Illinois

2001
Young Painter’s Competition, Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, Ohio
Unidentified, College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, Minnesota
45th International Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, California

2000
Studios Midwest Group Exhibition, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois
Georgetown International, Fraser Gallery, Washington, D.C.
National Juried Exhibition, Finer Things Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee
Small Works, William Rainey Harper College, Palatine, IL

1999
Juried Competition, Gallery 210, Syracuse, New York
Small Works, Nexus Gallery, New York, New York

Awards and Honors

2005
Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Grant Recipient

2001
Finalist, Young Painter’s Competition, Miami University of Ohio, Oxford, Ohio

Bibliography

Sundell, Ivy. Living Artists. Evanston: Crow Woods Publishing, 2005
HARPER’S MAGAZINE, May 2003
Camper, Fred. CHICAGO READER, 22 February 2003
 

 

 

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