Eli Smith

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Contact
email: catboygirlart@gmail.com

About


Artist Bio


    Eli Smith is an interdisciplinary artist currently based in Chicago pursuing a BFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in Film and Animation. They are originally from the rural area of Taos, New Mexico. Their experience with living in a rural environment and working physical labor jobs connected to the land has shaped the way they think about land and its connection with people. 
    Through art they try to dissect and understand this relationship further. They draw connections between how trauma can be seen in the traits and health of the body and the environment. Eli shows their art in both New Mexico and Chicago. They have been part of the “Family Room” and “Live Wire” exhibitions at Form and Concept in Santa Fe, NM as well as the “Hive Mind: Successful Failures “ exhibition at the NFO XPO booth in the Chicago Cultural center.

Artist Statement



    Within my work, I flow between the membranes of emotional expression, scientific observation, and sociological research. I work in video, animation, fibers, and painting. Each medium I work in caters to a different part of my creative process.

    I use painting to understand the geography of my inner world. It is a window into the muddle of thoughts and emotions that continuously pulse and entangle beneath my flesh. Paintings allow me to analyze the internal externally through images and texture. The paintings I create often become thumbnails and mind maps for the concepts and forms within my video and fibers work.

    Within my video work I strive to create a visceral, tactile, and sensorial experience for the viewer in the digital space. For this reason, texture, environments, and sound often inspire the images I create. When creating, I study the science behind the natural phenomenon that inspire me. The scientific research becomes the basis for the conceptual framework of my art. I build off this research creatively with my art to imagine metaphors and images that relate the human experience to the natural world. The art I create is a form of research and exploration of the connection between trauma, the subconscious, the body, and the land. The expression I find in movement, environment, and abstraction allows me to reverberate this research throughout the body of the viewer.

Contact


        Email: catboygirlart@gmail.com

Social Media


       Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTDiltWhOmBlAm44vprfA0w         
           
        Cara : https://cara.app/catboygirl