Portrait 10 hr
sand, gravel and water."
Every pit, every striation on
a small stone's surface is
recorded through Smyth's
photography, then enlarged
more than a hundredfold
into a rich black and white
C-Print, 68 x 48 inches. Seen
in this monumental format,
a four-inch stone takes on
the aspect of a four-foot
monument. One is reminded,
particularly in the "Nestle"
series of compositions, in
which one stone cradles or
balances another, of sculptor
Isamu Noguchi, an early
influence upon Smyth who
first advised the artist to test
his talent in the crucible of
Lower Manhattan rather than
Yale. Nestle Modern seems to
be a direct tribute to Noguchi,
smooth
squarish
stone
poised upon an elongated
round one; in Nestle Nest, a
Japanese cauldron is evoked
by the dark, basin shaped
stone which holds a smaller
round one on top.
HYLAND
