‘Surface and Depth’ was a one-person exhibition of sculptural works at the Galerie de Witte, Amsterdam in 2009. Smith’s exhibition comprised five large thrown and press-moulded vessels that explored the relation between physical form and illusory surface geometries.
The exhibition was an outcome of Smith’s long-term research in geometric pattern. In this case, the works were a response to the conventions of Islamic pattern and its deployment on flat surfaces in architectural contexts. His research included investigating how geometric patterns were employed to create specific effects at Islamic architectural structures in Granada and Córdoba.
Smith iteratively developed a series of illusionistic three-dimensional tilings with the intention of integrating these into sculptural ceramic pieces. The central aim was to explore how such patterns could change perceptions when they were applied to a curved plane and the illusory three-dimensional effect became a feature of a surface occupying real three-dimensional space.
The use of, and interplay between, two- and three-dimensional geometric spatial arrangements related the work to long-standing Western artistic concerns, from the employment of perspective, optical illusions and related effects in painting, drawing and architecture, to the use of mathematics as an underlying rationale and research tool in 20th-century minimalist sculpture. Smith offered a new departure by exploring the potential of ceramics as a medium for the realisation of sculptural works while retaining direct physical engagement with all aspects of the manufacture of the final pieces.
Reviewing the exhibition for artnet.nu (2009), Siobhan Wall argued that Smith’s ‘series of five circular works is a coherent, intelligent examination of the formal properties of both form and medium’.