Jennifer Tarry-Smith is a Melbourne based artist working in the medium of painting and printmaking. She produces abstract works that are meditative explorations of line and negative space. The act of laying down lines and leaving spaces is an ongoing, intuitive process that leads Tarry-Smith to being so immersed in her work she loses track of time and space. She is drawn to the intricacies and nuances that emerge as pattern evolves and changes to suit its environment. It is these subtle differences that distinguish the hand-made from machine-made, and highlights the beauty in the imperfect.
Tarry-Smith has participated in over 25 exhibitions in Australia and internationally since graduating with a bachelor degree in Drawing and Printmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts in 2018.
'Humans have a tendency to observe patterns everywhere; from minute patterns at an atomic level through to the patterns in the universe, patterns in our natural environment, in the behaviour of plants and animals, in sound, in smell, in time, in human behaviour and in man made objects. This recognition of pattern allows us to make order in our world and to predict what is to come. I am drawn to the intricacies and nuances that emerge as pattern evolves and changes to suit its environment. It is these subtle differences that distinguish the hand-made from machine-made, and highlights the beauty in the imperfect.
I am also intrigued by reiterations of lines in jazz, particularly in improvisation. Images emerge from a specific attention to textural ideas, dissolving sound boundaries and emotional responses. I am drawn to the creative freedom that comes from understanding the chord structures and melody of a piece of music, and then altering and building on those sounds in an improvised section.
A parallel can be drawn between this and the way in which I create my imagery; working layer by layer to create a completed piece, this gradual resolution is based on reactions and interpretations in the act of creating the art work. The act of laying down lines and leaving spaces is an ongoing, intuitive process. Each line responds to the curves and crevices that form larger shapes and contortions. My work attempts to capture human intuition; a capsule of moments in time, decisions and reactions, resulting in a unified body of work.
The rhythmic, ruminative process of producing the line based artwork is juxtaposed in the repetitive, systematic process of printmaking. In the editioning process, a printmaker strives to recreate each impression as a perfect replica of the one that proceeds it. I find myself constantly problem solving; changing and shifting small things as the inking patterns and printing process is repeated over and over. This series of work springs from the junction between the discipline of my chosen medium and the instinctive, meditative state that drives the image making process.'
