Create-Destroy-Recreate: Ray Smith
- Gina Greenlee, Author
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
“…That mezzanine was created because this area flooded entirely with [Hurricane] Sandy. So, we got hit with about six feet of water,” says artist Ray Smith in a New York Times interview.
“The walls are built like I think probably like at least a foot off the ground because we knew that this place could flood, from day one. But [Hurricane]Sandy just completely overwhelmed us. The water started piling up outside and it just created so much pressure on these doors that they actually opened inward rather than out and poured six feet of water into this space.
“Over 250 pieces of art had been damaged and were floating around literally just like floating all over the place. Eventually, it all kind of cured itself. And I actually really like the paintings that and the sculptures in a sense that got water damaged by Sandy.
“Those things were floating around because they’re made out of laminated plywood and they’re hollow. So, they floated. So, they were going around the studio for about three days floating in water.
“Then, somebody suggested the only way that you’re going to be able to get rid of the mold is burn them. And so, we burnt them. And that’s why they’re black. and I love them the way they are.
“All the works that were in the studio at the time of the storm suffered some damage, ‘but there are certain things that I actually now like about the damage.’
He pointed out a painting on wood of colossal, mirrorlike waves curling toward each other, titled “Tex-Rex (Ocean)” that sat in water for days. He indicated an area where the chemicals in the water had made the paint temporarily gooey, which gave the roiling surface another level of abstraction. “I never could have gotten that effect,” he said, appreciating the irony of water jeopardizing a painting depicting a wave. “I now consider that a gorgeous passage in the painting.”
“That’s what I learned from Sandy is that holy [moly], you build this whole thing thinking that you actually have something. And it’s nothing.”
Rising from the Ruins
“Basically [that’s how it all began], which is what made it exciting. In 1976 New York City falls apart. And so now everybody has got all these ruins that we can move into, and we can sort of like start modifying things. And that kind of made for this this entirely different environment. And there was something really cool about that.
“The places that you see the finest hope is in the places that are the most hopeless probably. That was the charm of New York at the time: you had to build it. You had to invent it. You had to piece it back together.
“New York had all of this history, but at the same time, it was a bit of a disaster zone. Everything had been abandoned [but] there was all of the potential. Everybody had that particular spirit.”
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