Time Out (Chris Smith)

The title of this piece is a homage to the Time Out Market in Lisbon, Portugal, where fresh food vendors sell wonderful culinary delights – seafood, wine and chocolate. Smith’s work explores the notion of time within this painting.
 
Smith elegantly paints a collection of alarm clocks placed on a weathered tabletop set against a brick wall. The clocks are unsynchronized, as each displays a different hour and minute. Realistic elements and textures are captured within the piece – the cracked surface upon which the clocks sit, possibly indicating disjointed time or a reversal of time, in addition to the roughness of the brick wall in the background. The plastic cover on each clock provides dimension, as Smith carefully captures the light that is reflected off each clock.
 
Often regarded as elusive, time has been man’s greatest challenge since our existence. Time is something that we have tried to understand, in particular its elusive nature (Einstein). We have often feared time, forever attempting to reverse the effects. Surrealist artist, Salvador Dali, painted Persistence of Memory in 1931, depicting melted pocket watches in his piece, representing the omnipresence of time and its mastery over human beings.  
 
Time Out is a unique and whimsical outlook on the notion of time, subverting our outlook, creating a pleasant and playful approach to Father Time himself.  
 
Item details:
Time Out (2019)
Artist: Chris Smith
Acrylic on canvas
30” x 15”
 
Email info@themodpeasant.com to enquire about viewing/purchasing this item.