NAKED + FUCKING FREE - Hand selected by the artist, Smith intuitively composes found crystallized rocks into an abstract figurative gestural expression, representing the guttural. It is through these works that a propelled sense of raw vulnerability is deepened by their weight, material, and scale. Smith refers to this transformation as “emboldened femininity”. They are presented and serve to challenge and erode preconceptions of masculine and feminine identities.

Excavated from various origins and depths of the earth, the crystallized rocks surfaces reveal specific alchemy with varying degrees of iron crust. Structurally, Smith stabilizes the form utilizing the implementation of triangular formations and joins and secures each intersecting connection with minimal intervention so as to preserve the natural characteristics of the found parts.

These works are presented sprawling across a site-specific geometry of stones serving as pedestals, with their own sculptural license, interred into the landscape, and breaking free from formality. For this installation, Smith selected contemplation points radiating from the core of the “Frank” house, built by the Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin Foundation in 1961.

As can be attributed to the core values of Smith’s oeuvre, the combined use of organic matter with clear strokes of geometry present her unique characterization presented as “emboldened femininity”.