What others wrote (excerpts):
Steven Matijcio; Past Curator Plug In ICA, Winnipeg (currently at SECCA) "Scratching the Surface: The Post Prairie Landscape": Excerpt from book publication of same name, 2008
"...In the sanitary aesthetic language of radar screens, statistics, and meteorological maps, space is linear and variable elements are contained (and ostensibly controlled) by diagrammatic code. Intrigued by the efficiency (and opacity) of this iconographic shorthand, Doug Smith proposes a new form of map-making; performing the diagram to deconstruct its possibilities. Challenging the traditional model’s veil/mirage of objectivity with the messiness of human behaviour, he uses a dialect of arrows, lines, and insignia to push these signs outside their expected jurisdiction. Subverting the function of orientation with restless drift, he inscribes large-scale surfaces of paper with forceful strokes of graphite; twisting lines into scratches, swirls, erasures and symbols. The ensuing panoramas marry the aesthetics of cave painting with the geometry of maps, merging machine-like precision with the physicality of mark-making. In the process, Smith turns paper into platform: allowing the idiosyncrasies of information to suggest new directions. Yet even as he assaults his surfaces with questions of obsessive draughtsmanship, the urgency of Smith’s practice purposefully evades resolution; forgoing plans to find meaning in pursuit."
complete Exerpt in scanned PDF format: book cover, Page1&2, Page 3&4, Page 4&5, back cover
Lorne Roberts; Galleries West Exhibition Review-"Works On Paper"; Ken Segal Gallery, Winnipeg, 2007 http://www.gallerieswest.ca/Departments/ExhibitionReviews/6-107451.html:
"...Inspired by several years spent living in Europe, when he regularly flew back and forth between Winnipeg, Toronto, and Rotterdam, there is a jet-setting consciousness in this show, a study of the complex network of global air travel as a work of art in and of itself, directed by skilled people and complex computer systems.
So, in a sense, Smith's creative act comments on another creative act - the building and maintenance of the vast network that enables millions of people to fly every year. Combining the accuracy of scientific or mechanical drawings with the loose edges of abstraction, the medium becomes the message in Smith's work without ever sacrificing aesthetic concerns. The result is a series of images, mostly graphite and acrylic on paper, where every bit of the surface is densely worked without ever becoming too busy. In fact, despite the incredible abundance of lines, strokes and patterns, the works have a quality of restraint and spaciousness..
...Skillfully blending form and content, Smith has created a show that seeks out the creative links between abstraction, geometry, and technical innovation, discovering beauty in what would seem at first to be the most artless of realms."
PDF: Galleries West
Laine B Nyden, Art Historian and Freelance Writer; Dialogue Magazine Review-"Renderings"; Infusion Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio, 1997
"This past year Canadian Artist Doug Smith lived and worked in Cleveland-the inspiration for "Renderings", a series of naturalistic cityscapes. Abandoned buildings, modern architecture, factories and bridges make up Smith's vernacular. His sensitive portraits of Cleveland combine a draftsman's preference for line and a painter's understanding of rich evocative color. Oil pastel on paper is one of Smith's chosen mediums and he takes full advantage of the pastel's smooth, thick and creamy properties. He purposefully smears one color into another creating rich opaque area. Buildings, rooftops, and window panes are clearly incised by precise lines. Smith's control of the work's formal elements is enhanced by his stylistic choices.
Ascension appears desolate and uninhabited despite numerous buildings packed tightly together. A single gray streetlight-a human-like presence-presides over the imagery like a large eye or a periscope that has emerged from the sea. Highly exaggerated smudges disfigure and enliven the repetitive vertical-horizontal tectonics of the building by creating movement, which contribute to the image's transience. In Ascension, Smith conveys themes repeated throughout his work: the viewer as voyeur and the contemporary urban landscape as a series of ruins. This is in the romantic tradition, which Smith explores in three of the exhibition's most powerful works: Nocturne, Courtyard Sanctum and Epilogue…
…"Renderings" alludes to what is gone or missing from the image; his urban representations are rarely inhabited, although when looking at the images one never feels alone. Abandoned buildings are only vestiges of the prosperity that necessitated their being built. Smith's best work is as subtle as a great mystery novel. Probing patterns of growth and decay, his cityscapes question Cleveland's growth as it abandons its industrial heritage."
ONE Magazine biography: Sandee Moore-interviewer, 2010: PDF: ONE
Patrick McDowall & the Melodramatic Pop Orchestra CD cover designs: 2009: PDF: Front Cover , Inside Liner , CD , Back Design: http://www.myspace.com/patrickmcdowall