Anj Smith is an English artist currently working in London, having completed her BA Fine Art Painting course at the Slade School of Fine Art. She is, as of 2017, 39 years of age and continuing to hold exhibitions of her paintings up to this day.
Her paintings are very bizarre to me. Almost every one of them starring a pale, fish eyed woman with , dark circles around the eyes, reconstituted patch clothing and a matted mess of hair, intertwined with many strange objects.
Although her style has gripped me, I can not say that I particularly enjoy it. It definitely evokes a reaction from the viewer, mostly thanks to the hauntingly dark eyes of the women in her paintings, and the pale, almost translucent skin (the subtle blue and green tones in the skin assert this affect very well). The women look ill and out of proportion. Perhaps they are on drugs or hard times. These theories are only further supported by the state of their hair and clothing, which is often matted and ripped. The muted colour schemes do not connote happiness at all. Smith seems to generally avoid bright colours, which sets a neutral, rather empty tone to her work. There is a lot of implied texture in this piece, although, as far as I am aware, the paintings are perfectly flat.
It is the hair that interests me the most. I have a natural admiration for art that flows, and the hair in this image does flow, but also doesn't. It's almost frustrating, as the natural flow of the hair is obstructed by strange objects such as feathers, wire, fabrics, and many other strange things that seem to come from nature.
I intend to explore this concept further, with my own adaptations. The subtle inclusions of nature in the hair could be amplified, which I think would be very interesting. Many more forms of nature could be incorporated into the hair, such as leaves, vines, flowers, even living creatures. I sketched a simple idea of what else I could add into the hair, here.
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| This sketch was created using a purple fineliner, which I then painted over with a wet paintbrush to allow the ink to run. In the hair, I incorporated shells, feathers, vines and a rats tail as well as the usual braids that Smith seems so fond of. I enjoy the idea of weaving interesting colours, patterns and forms from nature into hair. This would lead to a rather surreal piece, which I would fully support. The natural flow of hair would guide my way around it, and all I would have to do is think creatively on what to incorporate into the piece. I think that this would be especially interesting in 3D, and so, perhaps I could consider sculpting items from clay or wire to add into the mix. |
I also created a transcription of one of Anj Smith's paintings.
A4, acrylic + watercolour
This is not my favourite piece of art. I did not enjoy the process, as the alienlike face threw me off track. I made the effort to align her eyes slightly better, and have plumped her lips ever so slightly. This is an incredibly rough effort, but helped me to understand the way that the hair flows, how the odd features align, and how to create a skintone that appears ill.
Personally, the haunting faces of these women do not appeal to me, and if I were to take inspiration from this style, I would ignore the facial structure altogether. I feel that these pieces would be much easier on the eye with softer, less angular faces with less contrast. Specifically, I can imagine the soft faces of a renaissance or rococo style portrait working well.
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| Original Anj Smith painting |
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| George Romney - Lady Hamilton (As Miranda) My adaptation - I used photoshop to transfer the face of an 17th century portrait onto the face of Anj Smith's painting. The entire feeling of the painting has already changed, with a simple softening of features. I am pleased with the results of this simple photoshop task. |
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