Edge (Yellow)

Zack Smithey

69″ x 69″

Oil-based Enamel on Canvas

Zack Smithey’s Edge (Yellow) continues the artist’s exploration of geometric tension and organic disruption. At first encounter, the painting asserts itself with confident architectural geometry: bold planes of saturated color define the surface with clarity and discipline. Yet emerging from this structure is a fluid, marbled form rendered in swirling green and reds that breaks through the strict compositional order.

This interplay situates Smithey within a lineage that connects the hard-edge abstraction of Ellsworth Kelly and the West Coast Minimalists to the more intuitive, poured techniques associated with Helen Frankenthaler and Lynda Benglis. Like these predecessors, Smithey stages a conversation between intention and surrender, allowing the organic element to challenge the grid-like geometry surrounding it. The result is an energized visual rhythm that gives the work its unmistakable presence.

In Edge (Yellow), color becomes an active force rather than a passive backdrop. The yellow field radiates outward, creating a sense of expansion, while the black geometric form acts as a stabilizing counterpoint. Against this backdrop, the marbled shape appears simultaneously anchored and in motion. This dynamic equilibrium echoes the instability and fluidity of contemporary experience.

This artwork is featured in Mash Gallery’s group exhibition “Rhythmic Contours,” a show dedicated to artists who treat line, structure, and movement as evolving languages within contemporary abstraction. Within this context, Smithey’s work stands out for its ability to merge architectural clarity with expressive spontaneity.