Manhattan Bound Drawing/Painting by Stacy Stewart Smith
Manhattan Bound Drawing/Painting by Stacy Stewart Smith
Description
Manhattan Bound, 2004
Manhattan Bound begins with a drawing. In graphite and gesso on paper, Stacy Stewart Smith renders the East River as seen from a Manhattan-bound Q train at sunrise — the beams of the Manhattan Bridge framing the tracks below, the Brooklyn Bridge in the distance. Then a veil of silk organdy is stretched over a canvas frame and placed above the drawing as a scrim. Light passes through it. The two layers merge in the viewer’s eye.
The process is a study in atmospheric illusion — one of the central problems of Abstractrealism. Smith leaves the drawing deliberately illustrative beneath the silk, allowing the organdy and natural light to do the work of blending. At the outer edges, painterly daubs of black and white acrylic anchor the composition — a nod to Neo-Impressionism and a reference to the bitmap distortions of broadcast television and early computer screens. The pixelated edge of a signal trying to resolve itself into an image.
The subject is of particular interest to Smith because it is inherently multi-layered: scratchiti on the actual subway glass, additional barriers in the distance, fog, rain, and movement. This desire to conjure illusion through layered barriers is the core impulse of Abstractrealism. The edges of the work are finished with black painted plywood.
Provenance
- Created while completing studies at the School of Visual Arts, New York City
- Exhibited: Visual Arts Gallery, New York City
- Exhibited: Stacy Stewart Smith Gallery, Brooklyn
Medium & Dimensions
- Mixed media: graphite and gesso on paper beneath acrylic on silk organdy
- 50" × 38"
- Edges finished with black painted plywood
- Year: 2004
- Signed by the artist
Acquisition
This is an original, one-of-a-kind work. Certificate of authenticity included. Ships with care from New York City.
Care
Stacy Stewart Smith offers made-to-order garments, fine art, and digital publications — each requiring different care. Please refer to the product description for care and handling instructions specific to your purchase. For garments: dry clean or spot clean unless otherwise noted; do not machine wash. For fine art: keep away from direct sunlight and humidity; handle with clean, dry hands or cotton gloves. For digital products and publications: no physical care required; download and archive your files upon receipt.
Design
Every Stacy Stewart Smith piece begins as a drawing and ends as a decision — a deliberate choice of textile, construction method, and proportion made by a single designer with five decades of practice. The same eye that composes a painting composes a coat: line, weight, negative space, and the relationship between form and the body that inhabits it. Garments are produced in New York City, one at a time, to the measurements and preferences of the individual client. No two pieces are identical. No production run exists. This is not manufacturing — it is making.
The atelier sources textiles for their hand, weight, and longevity. Sustainability here is not a campaign. It is the natural consequence of making only what is wanted, from materials chosen to last, by a craftsman who will not put his name on anything less.