Michael E. Smith Laminated cards

Edition of 50 double sided cards, each unique
In conjunction with his solo exhibition at MASS MoCA, artist Michael E. Smith
(b. 1977, Detroit) has produced an edition of 100 unique works for the
museum's Research and Development Store, all produced during the
preparation for his show at the museum. Smith conceives the works as
“laminated cards.” Sealed in plastic and already "framed," the artwork
resembles vernacular forms that invite touch — a placemat, a menu, a flash
card. Despite their appearance, however, the cards seem to possess no clear
front or back, no position within the sequence, no ‘correct’ way to be used.
Each laminate is a mixture of collage and décollage, offering a rare view of
Smith's treatment of gesture, symbol, concealment, and content. Using
laminator as a print matrix, he draws each impression from an open-ended
process. Smith works each laminate as he works his sculptural objects —
building the surface up and paring it back, layering bold color, symbols,
borrowed iconography, found and original images.
These cards ask to be held and handled, their plastic coating implying
durability and permanence. Yet all the while, their contents betray the trace
of a restless hand, compositions ranging from extreme clarity and intensity
to vacancy, repetition, and low resolution. In these editions, Smith offers a
piece of the show itself, completing its gesture of the concealed canvas or
unopenable present.