WHAT REMAINS BY TREY SMITH

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"This body of work didn’t feel like it was created; rather it showed up when everything else got quiet. Or maybe … when everything else finally stopped shouting long enough for me to hear something underneath it. My wife, Chelsea, our three Australian Shepherds, and I recently relocated to a place where the land stretches wide, and the noise doesn’t follow unless you bring it with you. And I did bring it - the deals, the pressure, the relentless hum of needing to be engaged, to build, and to keep pace with a world that incessantly demands more. It took me some time to remember that none of this exists out here. 

The horses do not care. The cattle do not care. The land is unconcerned with how many followers you have on social media, pretending to have everything figured out. It just is. The images in the “WHAT REMAINS” exhibit emerged from that tension, that slow unwiring. A sensation of standing in a place so quiet it feels loud, as if you're missing something - until you realize you aren't missing anything at all. 

The images evoke a sense of something remembered rather than something observed. They resemble a dream once had but cannot be fully explained - shapes, figures, animals emerging and disappearing at the same time. Nothing demanding for your attention. Nothing attempting to persuade you of anything. Just presence.

“WHAT REMAINS” does not aim to convey much; rather, it seeks to peel away the layers - noise, expectations, the notion that more is always better, the lie that value resides in what can be quantified. Here, amidst the open land, none of that holds true. And somewhere in the empty parts of these old frames… I started to understand that the space we’re always trying to fill might actually be the thing that saves us.

It is my hope, if anything, that this collection of work gives you a second to hear yourself think - or maybe a quiet nudge - to step away from the noise and see what’s left without it."  - Trey