Sydnei SmithJordan

Confirm that Sydnei SmithJordan is the name you would like used for promotion of your work. If your professional name is different from the one listed above please let me know Artist Statement: Approximately 100 words, in the first person, summarizing your artistic inclinations and technique. My work is a combination of surreal, symbolic and graphic abstractions juxtaposed into individual original and unique autobiographical dialogues that capture both dreamscapes and reality which I call “Pop Fusion”. By design, I am a cutting edge thinker and thus have had to create a category for my work as none currently exist. My art is a fusion of art and design that’s music to your eyes. I take what is ugly or horrible and make it beautiful. I take that which is beautiful and magnify it. In all pain… there is beauty. In all sorrow…. there is serenity. I take what is ugly or horrible and make it beautiful. I take that which is beautiful and magnify it. In all pain… there is beauty. In all sorrow…. there is serenity. The main impetus of my work is the communication of explaining the idea of liberating ones mind, self and society. To see what we don’t want to see. To explain the unexplainable. To make tangible that which seemed unreachable. I reach deep into all that is true in myself and my unconscious mind; be they experience, dreamscapes or past. My pain, my joy. No one leaves this earth without experiencing tremendous pain and extreme joy. Truer than life to me is the exploration of examining religion, lesbianism, heritage, culture, sex, abuse and political life. I paint what I have seen or would like to see. I strive to enhance the things which appeal to me in each subject. By voiding certain colors, I rearrange the world as I see it by making other colors the focus. What drives me to create my work…? Life. My passion in life is communication. I use my work to communicate all that is important to me. My dreams and aspirations as well as the past. Seeing things as they are and as I wish them to be. The therapeutic bond of spiritual and physical manifested on paper is nothing short of miraculous. Sources of influence… Dali, Escher, Picasso, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, Lee Miller, Renoir and Dorothea Tanning. I was born in North Carolina. My nationality is Panamanian, African-American and Native American (Seminole-Cherokee). I currently live and work in Baltimore, Maryland. I studied Fine Art at Santa Monica College of Design, Art and Architecture, Illustration at Rhode Island School of Design and Graphic Design at Art Institute at Pittsburgh. Aside from my artwork; I enjoy tattooing and designing apparel. I was raised in a religious home. My mother was a minister and my father a deacon of the United Holiness denomination. We later changed to non-denominational. I spent my teen years in the Baptist Children’s Home as I was removed from the home due to abuse. During my mid teens, I was adopted by a New Zealander (Sian). My most profound years were spent learning art as therapy to get past the abuse that I’d suffered at the hands of my family. Due to abuse, I spent the last fifteen to twenty years using art to communicate the past as well as the present and future. In the beginning, I only created abstract works. My intention for doing so was to hide behind color and design so that the viewer couldn’t REALLY see me. I very much hid the pain and distrust in this way. The last few years, I began to use surreal portraits as the vehicle to researching my cultural background, sex, sexual orientation and abuse to communicate and allow the viewer into my world. Abuse isn’t the end of things; nor is pain. It is a fact of life which many suffer, but can overcome. Pain is a necessary evil. No one leaves this earth without feeling tremendous pain. We are also fortunate that pain doesn’t exist without joy. We are blessed to have that experience as well. In the human experience… grey does exist. Nothing is ever black or white… grey is a product of both. This is how we survive. Once we learn to survive… we strive to live with all the other beautiful colors that exist. This is what I’m learning… survival is not living. I’m learning how to live. My work stands out in the world because it is bold and honest. If you put your soul into anything… people will listen. In 2008 I had a double mastectomy which left me with a brachial plexus injury. This has affected my process. After thinking that I would never paint again, I have found a new gained respect for my craft. The thing that I unknowingly took for granted now means even more to me than it did before. I feel the need to do all that I can to touch the world through my art. My work has been therapy for me and I would like it to be healing for others as well. I have belonged to Black Artists Of DC group for the past four years. The most gratifying experience that I have had as an artist would be my last solo exhibit. My exhibit was held at U Space Gallery in Atlanta. The director of the gallery explained that people were inside and outside of the gallery waiting to get in. The gallery closed at 10 but people were there till 11. One collector in particular purchased a piece from me years prior called “Gazing:”. He explained how he had been given 6 months to live. He would stare at the painting daily during chemo. He says that it gave him hope. That man travel a couple of hours to see my show. That was so breath-taking. I was and still am beyond words. Please send me this material in a word document or in the body of an email by Apr 30, 2016. ----------------------------- My work is a combination of surreal, symbolic and graphic abstractions juxtaposed into individual original and unique autobiographical dialogues that capture both dreamscapes and reality which I call “Pop Fusion”. By design, I am a cutting edge thinker and thus have had to create a category for my work as none currently exist. My art is a fusion of art and design that’s music to your eyes. I take what is ugly or horrible and make it beautiful. I take that which is beautiful and magnify it. In all pain… there is beauty. In all sorrow…. there is serenity. The main impetus of my work is the communication of explaining the idea of liberating ones mind, self and society. To see what we don’t want to see. To explain the unexplainable. To make tangible that which seemed unreachable. I reach deep into all that is true in myself and my unconscious mind; be they experience, dreamscapes or past. My pain, my joy. No one leaves this earth without experiencing tremendous pain and extreme joy. Truer than life to me is the exploration of examining religion, lesbianism, heritage, culture, sex, abuse and political life. I paint what I have seen or would like to see. I strive to enhance the things which appeal to me in each subject. By voiding certain colors, I rearrange the world as I see it by making other colors the focus. What drives me to create my work…? Life. My passion in life is communication. I use my work to communicate all that is important to me. My dreams and aspirations as well as the past. Seeing things as they are and as I wish them to be. The therapeutic bond of spiritual and physical manifested on paper is nothing short of miraculous. Sources of influence… Dali, Escher, Picasso, Max Ernst, Yves Tanguy, Lee Miller, Renoir and Dorothea Tanning. INTERVIEW: I was born in North Carolina. My nationality is Panamanian, African-American and Native American (Seminole-Cherokee). Most profound memories of growing up? I was raised in a religious home. My mother was a minister and my father a deacon of the United Holiness denomination. We later changed to non-denominational. I spent my teen years in the Baptist Children’s Home as I was removed from the home due to abuse. During my mid teens, I was adopted by a New Zealander. My most profound years were spent learning art as therapy to get past the abuse that I’d suffered at the hands of my family. Family stories and personal experiences which affected me profoundly? Due to abuse, I spent the last fifteen to twenty years using art to communicate the past as well as the present and future. I tend to use romantic surrealism as the tool. Cultural influence in my artwork? In the beginning, I only created abstract works. My intention for doing so was to hide behind color and design so that the viewer couldn’t REALLY see me. I very much hid the pain and distrust in this way. The last five years, I began to use surreal portraits as the vehicle to researching my cultural background, sex, sexual orientation and abuse to communicate and allow the viewer into my world. Abuse isn’t the end of things; nor is pain. It is a fact of life which many suffer, but can overcome. The dramatic events that shaped my art? Abuse. I also mothered a child at sixteen, but am the first in any generation on both sides to graduate from high school and go to college. The hardest point of my artistic journey has been learning the right style and techniques to communicate my work. Getting into a gallery was very difficult early in my career as I kept hiding behind many styles to keep people confused. Once I let my voice come through in the work, it became easier. The most gratifying experience for me as an artist was in creating the grey series. This was the series where I broke out of the box that kept me hidden from people. I made a conscious decision to explore my heritage and the pains of my past. I figured that shame had kept me from being not only a whole person, but a successful artist. Once I put away the abstractions and used faces, collage and abstractions all in one; people were very receptive of the work. Now galleries pursue me. So the most gratifying experience was finding my artistic voice. The hardest point of my journey was uncovering myself one layer at a time to expose the special person and talent that I possess. I’d like for my art to accomplish allowing others to know and understand that it is in forgiving others as well as ones self that we obtain forgiveness. Pain is a necessary evil. No one leaves this earth without feeling tremendous pain. We are also fortunate that pain doesn’t exist without joy. We are blessed to have that experience as well. In the human experience… grey does exist. Nothing is ever black or white… grey is a product of both. This is how we survive. Once we learn to survive… we strive to live with all the other beautiful colors that exist. This is what I’m no learning… survival is not living. I’m learning how to live. My work stands out in the world because it is bold and honest. If you put your soul into anything… people will listen. P.S. I have attached my artist statement in the hopes that it will also help you understand me better.