Dimensions: support: 1520 x 1221 mm frame: 1538 x 1232 x 40 mm
Copyright: © Richard Smith | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This untitled painting by Richard Smith from the Tate collection overwhelms you with its yellows. What historical context can illuminate Smith's choices? Curator: Smith’s work is tied to the politics of postwar consumer culture. His interest in advertising imagery reflects how consumerism shapes our identities. Editor: How so? Curator: The scale and vibrancy of the yellows can be interpreted as mimicking the persuasive power of advertising, inviting us to consider how marketing influences our desires. Do you feel implicated by this vibrancy? Editor: I do, and I hadn't thought about consumerism's role in abstract painting before. Curator: Considering these paintings through the lens of cultural critique and consumerism, changes everything.
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Smith completed this painting one year after having finished his studies at the Royal College of Art, London. The scale of the work, handling of paint and use of bright colours show the influence of large-scale American abstract expressionist painting on his work, which Smith would have encountered upon his first visit to New York, around that time. The work is inscribed with the year 1959, although Smith was later quoted as saying he believed it was in fact painted in 1958, due to its similarity to other works he made that year. The inscription is likely to refer to the year that final touches were added by the artist. Gallery label, September 2017
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