I have already confessed to you many-a-time my love affair with water. I was a water baby from birth. The weightlessness and adventure of defying gravity in the clear, azure liquid of my backyard pool enabled me to dance the way I did in my dreams. Graceful, fluid movements like an elegant figure draped in sheer chiffon – that was how it appeared in my imagination.

Vicki Smith’s latest collection takes me right back to those endless hours of imaginative play from my childhood. I find that her choice of perspective emphasizes the weightless defiance of gravity, the suspension and fluidity of movement while breaking the surface of the water. The anonymity of the figures allows me to imagine it is me doing that silent, graceful dance. And the vintage-style bathing costumes simply charm me.

As I project myself into these scenes of relaxation and play, stillness and movement, I am somehow calmed and disarmed as if I’ve spent the afternoon in the pool. Perhaps painting, like water, has the power to heal? It most certainly has the power to transport.

Smith’s next solo exhibition will be held August 10 – 24, 2013 at Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto. Well worth the visit for a dip into the waters of Vicki’s imagination.

Happy Monday!

xo
s.