Classical iconography and romanticism pervade Peter James Smith’s body of work entitled Truth + Beauty. Larger than life, Smith’s paintings are enacted by the cinematic and the super – real. Sunsets augment the tranquility of painterly landscapes, whilst the infinitude of the cosmos is unveiled through a dramatic tension of light and dark. We are in the realms of nature, classical history and mathematical insight – close to that which is beautiful, but also, to that which might possibly reveal the truth.
The truth of the world has captivated the minds of philosophers and artists throughout the ages, as has the laws responsible for what is often referred to as “beauty”. Indeed truth and beauty are two of the most evocative words in the human language; they are intimately connected. Ian Stewart contends “None of us can say why beauty is truth, and truth beauty. We can only contemplate the infinite complexity of the relationship.“1 It is important to note however, that they are not always one and the same thing.
Whilst Smith’s paintings are highly aesthetic and may reveal mathematical truths through the text that accompanies them, they exist as simulations of reality; they are figural representations of the real, and as such, they are not entirely factual. The truth does, however, emerge through the text that is inscribed over their painted surfaces. Through chalk-board -like jottings, in works such as Measuring the Speed of Light, and Chorisia Speciosa we recall (or at least for most of us, become aware of) the mathematical equation for the speed of light or the diagrammatical classification of alpine plants and mosses. It is through the dynamic fusion of these two components (aesthetically engaging simulacra and valid mathematical and scientific claims) that truth and beauty collide.
Just as a mathematician collects data, Smith collects objects including bells, keys and padlocks or in Geological Time the fossils of sea urchins from Gippsland have been collected and stored in a small black tin box. These specimens, known as Clypeaster gippslandicus, are dated circa 11 million years. As Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) famously said “natures great book is written in mathematics“. This is evident in the mathematical patterning to be found in these specimens from the sea. Forming clusters, they convey the incredible history to be found in the Gippsland region but also provide a fragment of the mathematical foundations of the natural world.
Venturing to the Eastern coast of Gippsland, Smith’s research has seen him capture the majestic image of Gabo Island as well as the foothills of Gippsland’s alpine region. These painted explorations depict an untouched wild, a largely uninhabited terrain. Landscapes are documented in a panoramic format, then, once in the studio, the artist reconstructs his experience from photographs taken on site.
In contemplating the landscape, space, and history, Smith refers to what Immanuel Kant (1724-1805) coined the “mathematical sublime”.2 This is the human experience of or attempt to grasp what is infinite. In Truth + Beauty, Smith seeks to create portals for the viewer to grapple with the unfathomable beauty and vastness of the universe.
Underpinning this body of work is the poem of critical acclaim by John Keats (1794- 1821) Ode to a Grecian Urn, which evokes the complexity between art and real life. This poem conveys the dialogue between two characters depicted on an ancient Grecian urn. In the last verse Keat’s writes:
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.3
Dating back to 300 BC, a Grecian urn, not unlike the one from which Keat’s drew his inspiration, is presented in this exhibition and is titled Ode on a Grecian Urn. It is a humbling experience to contemplate painting this antiquity, and the artist has done so with an abiding respect for its intrinsic beauty and historical significance. In attending to an antiquity from centuries ago, the artist is forced to come face to feace with a history and culture so rich that it has shaped much of the mathematical reveleations of our Western civilisation. This is a challenging, if not daunting enterprise and we see him marry the impetus to Keat’s celebrated poem (a Grecian urn) with the poet’s own words: ” ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty’, – that is all Ye Know on earth and all ye need to know”.
Smith finds sublimity in today’s world and paints it with a lushness that is palpable. For many, who sift through the papers with global catastrophes, wars and local tragedies, this is nothing short of extraordinary but then Smith is no ordinary artist. Collector of antiquities and art, mathematician and artist, Smith is drawn to the beauty that surrounds us all, to eternal metaphors and truths in mathematics, science and astronomy. From the diagrammatic details of a flowering cacti to the mathematical equation of the speed of light, Smith presents a world where elegance and a yearning for truth, prevail.
Claire Watson
Curator
Published by: Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale
Exhibition Dates: 5 April – 4 May 2008