Jo Fleming Smith

Artist Statement

My work follows the field of gestural abstraction.  I work with spontaneity and chance, exploring saturation of colour, layering, staining, the use of calligraphy, scrawl and repetition. The physicality and materiality of the process, painting with my whole body, moving between multiple works simultaneously, allows relationships to develop over time. The energetic marks; quick splashes of colour and scratched lines exposing layers investigate the perfect balance and tension.  

The visual language I offer is a result of intuitive investigation and draws on urban and rural landscapes exploring individual experience, reclaiming space and time, and sharing memories and moments of commonality.    

The concept of an everyday articulation of finding a space of belonging is central to my artistic and philosophical practice. 

My most recent body of work is inspired by my experience of travelling, studying and living in Scotland, mid Pandemic. In May I  travelled the north coast 500, driving around the coast of Scotland.  I returned to the studio and created a series of 10 x 1.6 meter panels exploring a downpour, a sheet of rain, a panorama of changing skies, the sea, the coldness I felt, the power and beauty of the landscape I was in and my inter connectedness to it. The work was installed across multiple sites responding to the architecture, lighting and palette, integrating multiple elements allowing the audience to interact and become part of the work.