I met Ryan at the Railbender Gallery Grand Opening only a couple of weeks ago when he was introduced to me by Sylvie Hill.  She told me that his work was amazing and that I had to check it out.  Ryan's humble demeanor and non-descript business card gave no hint of what I should expect to see on his website but I decided to give it a look.

The next afternoon I spent some time looking through his online albums and found his work very intriguing!  He has developed a unique style using oil, acrylic, and spray paint and applies these to canvas and panels.  I'm also exited to see that Smeeton is starting to take his work outside in the form of murals and street art.  

His 2013 series of paintings - Objects and Things - show a great deal of skill in the way he reproduces the fluid folds in fabric and illustrates objects with only a few simple brush strokes.
When I asked Ryan to tell me more about his approach, he said: "[I] try to remove and/or alter information so as to put a break in the line of direct representation and to present the viewer with new perspectives.  I like to think it’s my job to create questions rather than provide answers."

For a recent BFA grad, Ryan has already attracted a lot of attention with his work.  I'm happy to have found out about him and I think he'll be a great contributor to the Ottawa art scene!

You can check out more of his artwork at: http://ryansmeeton.ca/

I was in Wollongong the other day (an industrial city near the house I'm taking care of) to pick up some art supplies and decided to walk in to the City Gallery to see if there was anything interesting on the walls.  I definitely wasn't expecting to see an amazing screen print/stencil show like Poncho Army's Fight or Flight.

Trina Collins (Poncho Army is her pseudonym) had put together a series of colourful and beautifully detailed pieces during a 12 month artist in residence program at the gallery.  I spent over an hour looking at the show and the only way I could have been more impressed on site is if I had known that she managed to combine water-based ink over solvent based aerosol to make each piece.  A nearly impossible challenge I can relate to as an artist working to merge three-dimensional sculptures into two-dimensional spaces.

"The works center on themes such as feelings of claustrophobia in an increasingly controlled society, the nightmare of being forgotten and abandoned, and the relief of finding community and of being found." -Poncho Army

I highly recommend a visit to her website to see the rest of the Fight or Flight show here:
http://www.ponchoarmy.com/art/