2 to 3D

WHAT
AN EXHIBITION OF WORKS IN UPCYCLED WOOD 
AND COMPACTS MADE OF FOUND OBJECTS 
BY ARTIST JEFF SMITH

WHEN

Exhibition: October 15 – November 14, 2009

Opening reception: Thursday, October 15, 6-10 pm

Hours: By appointment only.

WHERE
The Argot Network
37 West 20^th Street
Suite 1009 (10^th floor)
New York, New York 10011

212 929-0088


Jeff Smith uses assemblage, collage, and marquetry to create two- and three-dimensional works out of found objects and wood. He limits his palette to carefully selected pieces of wood with the patina and color unaltered from how they are found. Whenever possible, the pieces of wood and objects are incorporated into the work in the same shapes as they are discarded. These criteria and the process of upcycling offer multiple ways to engage with the hybrid spaces of painting and sculpture. Smith infuses each work with balance and energy as he lays in the pieces like a reverse jigsaw puzzle. During the process, he develops a story; a landscape or faces layered on and hidden within each other might appear, analogous to a Rorschach test. Imbued with a mysterious quality and spirit of an unknown history, these works invite the viewer to create his or her own narrative.

Hello Indeed

Hello Indeed, 2007. Wood, nails, glue, epoxy resin, 35.5" x 56.5"

You Were Here

You Were Here, 2007, wood, nails, glue, and epoxy resin 

35.5” x 56.5”

Chewy

Chewy,  2006. Wood, nails, glue, epoxy resin, 22" x 35"

Radio Days

Radio Days, 2007. Wood, nails, glue, polyurethane,

33" x 71"

Jeff Smith: biography

Jeff Smith is a self-taught sculptor and master woodworker. He grew up on a farm where he learned basic carpentry and made things out of whatever was there. Now he finds his materials in various places—in the streets, on train tracks, in dumpsters, on the beach, and in empty buildings. In the early 1990s, while an Artist in Residence at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln Massachusetts, he developed a technique of using upcycled wood and found materials to create rolling sculptures. These works roll on wheels; they invite play and interaction. He has also created more than 100 small diptychs out of found materials. These “compacts” are composed of a mirror on one side and a lens on the other, letting light through from the outside to the inside. 

Smith has designed and built numerous architectural spaces—offices, restaurants, and bars—using entirely upcycled materials. His designs include restaurants—The Beehive in Boston and the Wellington Room in Portsmouth New Hampshire—and offices for Joseph Kennard Architects and Stoltz Design in Boston, as well as the Argot Network in New York. Since the late 1980s, Smith has worked as an art director, carpenter, prop master, fabricator, and special effects technician in film and video. He has worked on MTV features for bands such as Aerosmith, and films for artist William Wegman. Smith’s multi-talents also include teaching, writing, cartooning, and publishing. Exhibitions include Virtual Democracy, FPAC Gallery, Boston, 2004; Lighten Up - Humor in Art, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA, 2001; and American Emergency Safety Co., Boston Underground Film Festival, 2000 among others. His kinetic sculpture can be seen in the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. Smith holds a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcasting and film from Boston University College of Communication, 1992. He lives with his wife and daughter in Boston.

One Star

One Star, 2008. Wood and epoxy resin, 42.5” x 27.5”

detail

detail

Two Geisha

Two Geisha, 2008. Wood and epoxy resin, 62.5” x 40.5”

detail

Wink

Wink, 2008. Wood and epoxy resin, 26” x 32”

detail

All Hail

All Hail, 2008. Wood and epoxy resin, 56.5” x 35.5”

detail

detail

Compacts

Gas, 2005. Gas can, wood, mirror, glass lens, hardware 

6” x 12” x 1.5”

Crackers, 2005. Crackers tin, cash register, wood, mirror, glass lens, 
hardware, 5.75" x 11.5" x 1.5"

TNT, 2004. Wood, explosives box, steel drum, mirror, glass lens, 
hardware, 6.5" x 11" x 1.5"

Hand Radio, 2005. Radio, wood, mirror, glass lens, hardware
6.5” x 9” x 1.5"

Rolling Sculpture

Felicity, 2003. Plywood, oil paint, casters, polyurethane, hardware

18" x 26" x 46"

Only 50c, 2001. Wood, casters, coin-op mechanism, quarters, oil paint

28" x 27" x 47" 

Big Boy, 2007. Wood, glue, hardware, casters

28" x 28" x 46.5"

Slick Willie, 2004. Wood, casters, steel, eye, hardware, 

34" x 28" x 5" 

Watch Dog, 1999. Wood, brush, casters, hardware

15” x 14.5” x 22”

detail

detail

Everhot Freezer

Everhot Freezer, 1998. Heater, tail light, freezer handle, wood, 
hardware, 10.5” x 9.5” x 7.5”

detail

detail

detail

detail

Process

I usually create a palette based on the wood that I have. I don’t tend to use every piece for everything. I select a palette and try to make something harmonious from disparate pieces. I try not to cut down any pieces to make smaller pieces unless I need it to fit. I will not cut anything cute or crooked unless it goes along the grain, then I’ll bust it and straighten up that edge that the grain wanted it to split on.

I have a few rules. I can use plywood, but I don’t like to use composite wood like chipboard or mdf. I did use fake brick for a couple of pieces, but I felt like I was breaking my own rules. It’s something you have to do to test the limits of what the rules are.

I try to do a minimal amount of cutting, but that rule takes a backseat to things like balance.

Materials

I started making things out of wood when I was a kid. I grew up on a farm and my father built houses. I worked on his crew, and that’s how I learned basic carpentry. When you’re on a farm you make things with what’s lying around. In those days anyway, if you wanted to build a tree house, you went and looked in one of the sheds and found a pile of wood, or you used something left over, so that’s where I got the ethic of using recycled wood.

I used to do comics and drawings, but at some point I started combining carpentry and cartooning and came up with these types of sculptures that were three-dimensional, and I never really went back…until I started doing these flat pieces, which I think are somewhere between two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

I have never bought wood to build a sculpture. It’s my medium. It is found wood that I upcycle myself. It gives the piece a history beyond itself. The wood has a spirit from being used before…a mystery. It gives my work another dimension.

Emerge Safe