Photo by John Smith.
Artist Profile: Melissa Smith
“Feel free to touch,” Melissa Smith tells me as she shows me her collages; texture-rich images of fashion models spliced with torn pages of a DIY car repair manual. The Carburetor collection, a series exploring societal ideals of perfection and the tendency to strive towards the unattainable, evolved when Smith happened upon a chapter called ‘The Body’. It occurred to her that what mechanics do to the bodies of cars is remarkably similar to what women do to their bodies via plastic surgery, dieting or other measures. The series, which will open at the Carrack on February 17th at 7pm, explores our never-ending quest to fix others and ourselves. It’s a dilemma Smith finds fascinating:
“Our society puts a lot of emphasis on morphing ourselves into something we’re not. Why do people want to be something they’re not? Why do they want the person they’re in love with to be something they’re not? Or their children?” she asks.
Smith's love of touch and texture began in her early 20’s when she first began experimenting with collage:
“When I was young, I think I was basically collecting all these thoughts and ideas and feelings and colors. When I finally started making art, I put all those things that I’d been collecting in my head and my heart down on paper, or wood or cloth or canvas or glass—whatever I could get my hands on.”
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