Anj Smith: Drifting Habitations

“Beauty, disgust, desire and dread mingle at the core of Smith’s painting.” –ArtforumCoinciding with the eponymous exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, this catalog presents the latest body of work by the British painter Anj Smith (born 1978). Negotiating the space between the genres of portraiture, landscape and still life, Smith produces intricately rendered paintings that explore issues of gender, ecology, anxiety and eroticism. To that end, her latest series populates ecologically devastated landscapes with liminal beings and creatures. The luscious paintings invite viewers to consider the fluidity of their perceptions of the world.Anj Smith: Drifting Habitations features a conversation between psychologist Orna Guralnik—of Showtime’s Couples Therapy—and the artist, in which themes such as plurality, rewilding and repurposing are discussed, as well as a poetic intervention by author Claire-Louise Bennett, who conjures up a roiling world of her own and plays with readers’ understanding of reality, nature and self.