SAM SHMITH has recently featured in the newly redesigned ARTAND (Australia) magazine.
The PLATFORM section of the new and improved ARTAND (Australia), written by Jane Sutherland, (Issue No. 51.1, 2013, pp. 154-155.) outlines Shmith's artistic process.
Shmith's photographs are interpreted as immense, dreamlike landscapes where light and dark intermingle, creating a dramatic composition. Shmith’s methods of capturing photographs occur during times of travel and take place whilst in transit such as in cars, trains or helicopters. Throughout his photographic journey Shmith scans his surroundings in order to capture the familiar everyday observations of trees, houses, clouds, people and reflections.
"My photography is a process of literally breaking the world up into objects, then putting it back together. I ceased experiencing the world as a series of places, rather as a fragmented and endless resource of ingredients."
- Sam Shmith
Whilst the initial process of creating a work is heavily reliant on the taking of photographs, Shmith's collection of over 60,000 photographs come together and transform into and can be interpreted as a painterly manifestation. Shmith describes his work as being a balanced combination of collage and montage, where he works with numerous transparent layers against a black background in Photoshop - as a result, an ominous dreamscape is created.