"I want people to see the beauty and whimsy of life, not its ugliness." — Rodney Smith
If you've never experienced a Rodney Smith photograph, check out the closing shot of the movie, "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," with Mr. Poe's black car driving off into the distance on a mist-covered road lined with tall, symmetrically aligned trees.
It is surreal and visually stunning — just like a Smith photograph.
Through Jan. 16, visitors to the Museum of Art at Brigham Young University will have the rare opportunity of witnessing the artist's work first-hand in "Adam's Dream: The Photographs of Rodney Smith."
The exhibit consists of 69 black-and-white gelatin silver prints drawn from all phases of Smith's career. The show's title is derived from a passage in an 1817 letter written by the poet John Keats: "The imagination may be compared to Adam's Dream. He awoke and found it truth."
Interpreting Adam as "everyman," Smith delves into the human experience of imagination and dreams, and their connection to the immediacy of the physical world.
"A camera's eye," Smith told the Deseret Morning News, "can see the world with more acuity or resolve than your own eye. It can penetrate deeper, it can see sharper, it can give you an insight, a depth that your own eye can't have."
Smith came from a very visual family, so it is not surprising he would pick something visual for his career. He became serious about becoming a photographer after visiting the permanent photography collection at the Museum of Modern Art. He saw works by Edward Steichen (1879-1973), W. Eugene Smith (1918-78), Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004), and many others.
"I remember looking at the work and feeling inside that I could do this," said Smith. "I think the feeling meant that I could put my feelings onto paper, which is more difficult than it seems."
Smith's photographs are the antithesis of much of contemporary photography, which relishes ugliness and shock. Smith seeks beauty.
"My inclination has always been that way," he said. "I've always been interested in things I consider beautiful."
Unfortunately "beautiful" is a derogatory word in today's art world. "If some curator referred to a work as 'beautiful,' it would be a subtle way of saying, 'I think it's not important.' They confuse beauty with sentimentality," Smith said.
According to the photographer, the 19th-century world was considerably more beautiful than our world today. "In this 21st-century world there is a lot more ugliness. So, you would think that there would be some kind of counterbalance to the ugliness, that people would desire or need to see beauty, but what's happening is the world is just being mirrored back on itself."
As a college undergraduate, Smith majored in English, thinking he might like to be a novelist. "I quickly realized that I might have the sentiment for it, but not the skill."
Shortly thereafter, he switched to the religious-studies program, which offered Smith the opportunity to consider and study ideas he believed to be important, such as "questions about human existence, who we are and why we are the way we are." The program was non-denominational, but having read Augustine, Aquinas and Plato, he found it suited him well.
"I was able to work out a program where they allowed me to have half my credits in the photography program and the other half in theology." Smith graduated with a master's degree in divinity in theology from Yale in 1973, but claims "that's the way I wanted it. I studied theology with the intention of being a photographer."
Smith used 35mm and large-format cameras in his early career days, but today he shoots almost every subject in medium format; and he never touches digital. "I shoot everything on film, and pretty much everything is done in camera. There is no retouching of the picture, except for maybe color correction when I shoot color." But this is rare, as Smith shoots black and white almost exclusively.
And while his impeccable craftsmanship and technique give him flawless images, it is Smith's unique visual language that has given him great success in the commercial world, with such clients as Saks Fifth Avenue, BMW, Ralph Lauren, American Express, Merrill Lynch, The New York City Ballet, and many others.
"Adam's Dream: The Photographs of Rodney Smith" is a journey through the imagination of a truly gifted artist. His images are mystical, mesmerizing and memorable, like something out of, or entering into, a dream.
This exhibit is not to be missed.
If you go
What: "Adam's Dream: The Photographs of Rodney Smith"
Where: Brigham Young University Museum of Art, Provo
When: Through Jan. 16, 2006
Museum hours: Monday and Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m.;
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.;
Saturday, noon-5 p.m.
How much: Free
Phone: 801-422-8256
Also: Tours are conducted during regular museum hours but must be scheduled at least one week in advance (801-422-1140)
E-mail: gag@desnews.com