Bradley Smith

BFA Artist Statement

March, 2007

Where does an artist fit in society? We are asked when we are little, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" When I was young, I was always changing my mind about what I wanted to be when I grew up. I could only stick with being a scuba diver for a few hours before moving on to something else. When I went off to college, I started to take a serious interest in art and began exploring different mediums.

I only experimented with one medium at a time, in stints, similar to my impulsiveness as a child. I searched for my own method of expression; as an artist, I felt I needed to settle on a single medium. As I became more familiar with what art was and what it could do, my rigid thoughts about mixing mediums changed drastically. Instead of jumping from one medium to the next in hopes of finding my place, I began to combine mediums in a way that allowed me to find my own practice as an artist. I began using pinhole photography a few years ago, mostly because I enjoyed the process.

As with most of my work, my cameras and images are usually inspired by either things I see or things I find. I'm always on the lookout for nontraditional methods and materials. My work is both sculptural and photographic. I later realized that my interest in pinhole photography came from the fact that with many manufactured cameras, photographs can be created almost completely independent from the artist. The images can sometimes be sterile and generic in result, as the camera is essentially doing all the thinking for you (auto exposure and auto focus).

I approach photography in a way that requires each image to be to planned out (exposure times are the trickiest). Through my work, I hope to expose the viewer to the pinhole process and the possible results. I wish to offer it as an alternative, a way to break free from the autonomy of manufactured cameras and images. A more relational type of art practice, one that creates more of a dialogue and a chance for community between artist and viewer.  

The relationship between artist and viewer has usually been classified as one that only exists in the viewer's opinions, reactions, and beliefs about the artist's work. This usually leaves the artist/viewer relationship absent of any direct dialogue; however, in addition to being interested in the traditional artist/viewer relationship, I'm also interested in a more exchange-based relationship.

The idea that an artist would share their work, in a way that allows the viewer to be involved in the work's production, is something that's exciting to me. Sol LeWitt's work, although planned by him, was not actually carried out by him. Some of his works started out as a set of written instructions which were then read and carried out by others. This type of art practice required the viewer's involvement in order for the work to exist beyond the artist's instructions. When people see pinhole photographs in this show, my hope is that they will take an interest in this idea and accept this as an invitation to explore their own art making through my work as an artist.