About
"Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old." - Franz Kafka
Bio
Chad is a male part of the species. He typically wears T-shirts, but sometimes F-Shirts. He is most commonly found looking at things. He lives in new york, but not the city. Chad sleeps in a bed with 4 wheels, a guitar, and a stuffed mouse that sits on the floor. That's right a floor. He has pockets full of lint and holes where everything important to him just falls right on the floor. That's right he has a floor. So what. So what. His closest friend is named Linoleum. Chad once thought he saw something in the distance, no one believes it is still there, but he is still trying to paint it today. Chad believes it was never there. He believes that trying is the first step towards failure, and that failing is more respectable then winning. Because winning means that someone had to lose. Chad makes art because he cant think of anything better to do. True fact.
Statement
I believe that art is about communication, and that sucessful art says something to the viewer. I try to take what inspires me from the world and life and translate it in a way that will give the viewer an opportunity to "see what I see" and, hopefully, even, start a conversation. It is difficult, or impossible, to know what another person may "get" from my art, but I think it is part of the artists job to find a way to craft their work so that it may express something meaningful to a variety of viewers. It is also, mostly, impossible to acess how well a piece of art is communicating to an audience, but, for me, the pursuit of creating something with universal meaning is always worth the attempt.
It can also be difficult to explain exactly what a painting "means" or exactly what I was trying to communicate, fact is, often, I don't know very exactly myself; some images have a specific source and purpose, and others not so much. The mystery is intriguing, and while in everyday life, communication needs to be precise, in art, "good" communication can, and often is, a bit of a mystery. I think that one discovers their own art constantly, along with the audience, and that striving for something not quite understood, is fertile, and perhaps new, ground to cover.
The earliest cave paintings were not there for decoration, although I'm sure they were apprecaited for that as well, but mainly their purpose was to tell a story; there was something important that needed to be experessed and painting was a special way to get that meaning across. I believe that this is still what art is about today.
I use the language of realism because everyone everywhere knows it, even if they don't think about it too much. I've always been drawn to landscape because it's not specific, like a particular face, and yet very familar, and the vast space a landscape can create that can be filled with anyones imagination seems to hold endless possibilities. I hope my paintings can be open-ended questions, intriging enough to draw you in, mysterious enough to keep you engaged, good enough, to, somehow, make a living with.
Artist Resume
Chad Smalt : Oil Painter
Education:
Bachelor of Art, Buffalo State College, 2011.
Career Program in Fine Arts with specialty in Oil Painting and Drawing.
Numerous workshops and seminars, 171 Cedar Arts Center, Corning NY .
Exhibition Experience:
2011
73rd Annual Arnot Art Museum Regional, winner of the Fanny Haven Arnot award.
2010
Two person show, Atrium Gallery, Corning Community College
Guy Lyman Fine Arts, New Orleans, LA
Monsoon Gallery, Bethlehem PA
2007-2009
The Artists' House Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa
Corning Community College Alumni + Faculty show
2005-2007
The Village Gallery, Hammondsport , NY
2004 to present
West End Gallery, Corning , NY
Commercial gallery; numerous group shows.
Gmeiner Arts Center, Wellsboro, PA. Juried Group exhibition
2001-2003
Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY.
Senior Art Exhibit. Also, numerous juried and non-juried student
exhibitions, including annual student shows
1998-2000
Corning Community College, Corning, NY
Group and Student shows.