Brrrr: Patrick Smith focuses on icy realms in “Polar”
Published: December 31, 2010
Patrick Smith shares images of icy realms in "Polar: Photographs from the Ice," on display through Jan. 9 at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings.
The Billings-based artist began his lifelong relationship with the versatile medium of photography as a young street artist living in Japan. He went on to earn a bachelor of fine arts in photography from Louisiana Tech University in 1980 and has photographed continuously since. He has exhibited widely within the region.
His exhibition at the YAM continues a body of work that began in 1986, when he took his first trip to Antarctica as a mechanic. According to the Billing Gazette, the exhibit “contains photos juxtaposing out-of-place hand-tinted black-and-white photographs against the stark expanse of snowy terrain, the textural differences of snow and ice, and self-portraits of an often ice-coated Smith.”
Smith has lived and worked for up to a year at a time at research stations in Antarctica and Greenland, sometimes traveling across the frozen icecap for months at a time. His work reflects a keen appreciation of the strikingly austere natural landscapes of the Earth's polar regions.
Rather than simply documenting what he sees, however, he interacts with what is there, even when "what is there" seems to be very sparse. "There is the sky, the endless white snow, and a horizon line dividing the two,” says Smith. “I see this wide open landscape as a unique palette."
In weather down to 80°F below zero and encumbered head to toe in alien-looking Arctic gear, he hauls equipment, props, previously photographed images, and found objects out into the harsh, surreal environment. Year after year, Smith has persistently ventured out to invent, explore, and push his artistic vision in an environment that continues to give back.
When he’s not in the Antarctic or Greenland, Smith works at the YAM as preparator – the person in charge of hanging and lighting the museum's art shows – and also oversees security and helps out with maintenance.
Robyn Peterson, executive director of the YAM, told the Gazette that the show was long overdue and includes new images that even those familiar with Smith's work may not have seen.
"I think he's doing some great work that deserves some much-greater exposure," she said. "No pun intended."
For more information, visit www.artmuseum.org.