Brian Smith

Brian Smith (born 1994) is a Portland-based artist who works in sculpture, painting, and drawing. He is inspired by queer ecological theory and what it offers in the context of climate change.

Smith holds a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA from the Maine College of Art and Design. His works have been exhibited across New England and in group exhibitions in Antwerp, Austin, and Brooklyn. He has been written about in publications including Boston Art Review, the Portland Press Herald, Maine Magazine, The Chart, Floorr, Divide, and Working Artists Magazine. Smith was recently a fellow at the Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College and has completed artist residencies at Monson Arts and the Hewnoaks Artist Residency, where he currently serves as residency manager. Notably, Smith is the recipient of the Innovative Artist Grant, Maine Project Grant via SPACE gallery, Maine Arts Commission Springboard, and subsequent Project Grant.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I create sculptures, paintings, and drawings conceptualizing a future reality in which humans adapt and migrate (back) to the seas that land creatures evolved from, to survive the climate catastrophe and rising waters. With inspiration from queer ecological theory, which challenges traditional views of nature as separate from human society, I explore forms of hybridization between creatures as I look towards mythology and queerness for inspiration.

My sculptures are oftentimes heavily surfaced with repetitive textures—beads, chains, or spikes—which nod towards the exuberant and campy elements of queerness while also mimicking surface qualities of “nature.” My two-dimensional pieces provide narrative for the body of work, evoking mythology and artifacts and spanning the past to a future reality. These works offer hints about how this transition may come to be, all while celebrating queerness and providing a more optimistic outlook as a means to discuss climate change while circumventing ecoanxiety.