Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery

Titled ‘Tradewinds,’ Paul Anthony Smith’s latest show of hand-worked photos at Jack Shainman Gallery celebrates home, memory and the act of celebration itself.  More contemplative than some of the artist’s images of parties and get-togethers, this image suggests thoughts as a kind of cloud-cover or camouflage around this young man.  Here, Smith’s signature picotage technique – involving a series of tiny rips on the surface of the image – becomes a kind of simultaneous damage and decoration.  (On view in Chelsea through April 3rd).

Paul Anthony Smith, detail of Islands #2, unique picotage with spray paint on inkjet print, mounted on museum board and sintra, 60 x 40 inches, 2020-21.

Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery

Amid a mass of vibrant color, a solitary eye peeks out from beneath a pattern that recalls decorative fencing in this photo by Paul Anthony Smith at Jack Shainman Gallery. The barrier, created by meticulously making tiny tears in the surface of a photo, deflects our gaze, shielding the subject protectively.  (On view in Chelsea through May 11th).

Paul Anthony Smith, A Sense of Familiar, unique picotage on inkjet print, colored pencil mounted on museum board, 40 x 60 inches, 2018.

Paul Anthony Smith at ZieherSmith Inc.

Isolated on the tarmac, Jamaican airport workers in young Jamaican-American artist Paul Anthony Smith’s paintings occupy a world of their own; though their jackets lend them a kind of authority (traffic cops come to mind), one with a hand to his mouth could either be thoughtful or confused while the younger man exudes relaxed self confidence despite his featureless face. (At Chelsea’s ZieherSmith through April 20th).

Paul Anthony Smith.