FOST Gallery presents Surreal Reality by renowned American photographer Rodney Smith. The exhibition will focus on Smith’s black and white images as it makes up a large part of his oeuvre.

Smith is a rarefied photographer but especially so in our digital age. He only uses natural light, shoots primarily on black and white film, and apart from colour correcting, does not retouch photographs. As he once declared, “I am a photographer, not an illustrator.” And although his photographs are perfectly composed, Smith works in a highly spontaneous way. Smith allows for each location to inspire him and the poses and placements are usually decided ten minutes before the shot is taken. Since he does not test shoot on Polariods, he will only know if he is successful after processing in the dark room. Oftentimes, the photographs capture magical moments in harmonious symmetry and juxtaposition, resulted purely from his intuition.

His unstinting insistence on perfection in the craft is also extended to the creation of his inimitable style. Smith’s photographs are immediately recognisable for their elegance, whimsical wit and seemingly lackadaisical attitude towards the concept of gravity. A self-professed classicist, one can never date his photographs, unless the image inadvertently includes clues. It is this visual articulation of his unique realm that is in the world but not of the world – a surreal reality.

This will be Smith’s inaugural exhibition in Singapore.

- FOST Gallery

Image: © Rodney Smith