A wondrous world and its beings

Moving depictions of animals and proud vestals

Kerschlach People require ritual in their daily lives. Regardless of the path one takes towards discovering the secrets of the cosmos, the need for rituals remains. According to Plato, the conception of ideas is a source from which rituals are born, or as Carl Gustav Jung formulated, from the archetypes of the human unconscious. To find images that draw us closer towards comprehension, openness and emulation has always been the task of the artist. That this is indeed a difficult challenge can be seen in the ban on imagery in the Islamic world. It was, however, amongst other examples, courageously realized in the artworks and icons of Christian churches.

The human figure has always been present within the noble and majestic confines that we admire in the work of the romantics.

Today, such an approach is usually abstract and attained through light and color. This however, is not the path that the Munich painter, illustrator and designer has taken. She has the courage to clothe the subtle in the garb of renaissance painting, to quote Egyptian religious art or even to illustrate the texts of Plotinus in subdued tones that remind one of the symbolic mental imagery of the Anthroposophists

Brigitte Smith attended the School of Design in Wiesbaden, the Academy of Graphic Arts in Munich and the Academy of Fine Arts in Montreal. She began her career working for publishers in Germany, Switzerland and Italy and was then able to support herself through her work as a freelance Illustrator and Designer. She has produced children¹s books, educational books and works of nonfiction. She remains active today with renowned publishing houses in Germany and her work has also been published in America and Canada.

Her technical mastery, security in the handling of form and treatment of an enormously broad palette of materials and tones provide her with a unique style.

Those who are prepared to follow philosophical and spiritual messages, can find reward in precisely painted, beautiful and moving depictions of animals cast over golden backgrounds; female figures that stride like vestals amidst their holy community that includes the animals -or who have perhaps by their own choseness. This noble pride is also displayed in the powerful non-naturalistic color of the human and animal sculptures that complement the exhibition. These works impress the viewer with their simultaneous display of masterful execution and serious expression.

This is an artist that has great respect for other beings and of the mysteries of life. INGRID ZIMMERMAN