Ali Smith (b. 1976, Newport Beach, CA) uses the canvas as an open space of exploration, an empty landscape which serves as a starting point for investigation into abstract terrains. Smith states that her work intends to \\\"illustrate the existential plight of finding new and personal meaning within the field of abstract painting.\\\" Her recurring visual trope of Rococoesque abundance performs a celebratory reassertion of the endless possibilities available to painters. Smith weaves fleeting thoughts, moments of time, the fine lines between fact and fiction, and subjective desires within her canvases, which in turn present the hopeful attitude of the artist. Smith received her MFA from California State University, Long Beach (CA), and has since had solo exhibitions in New York, Houston and Los Angeles. She has been included in numerous group shows, including those at the Laguna Art Museum (CA), Irvine Fine Arts Center (CA), Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock (CA), and Riverside Museum (CA). Her work is included in the collections of the Laguna Art Museum (CA), Frederick R. Weisman Foundation (CA), Progressive (OH). The artist lives and works in Long Beach, CA. -- My new series of paintings combine intuitive drawing with more slowly-drawn out imagery that collide to create complex, almost map-like surfaces. Each painting holds together as a multi-layered unit, simultaneously built, constructed, woven or erased, to create a unique abstract language. With this latest work, there are a variety of painted spaces--sculptural, flat, atmospheric, large gestural paint application against intricate marks—that create a visual flip flop or contradiction, a constant theme in my work. I often edit or paint over layers of imagery to find an ideal composition, and certain areas build in momentum, to evolve and shift over time. Joy and doubt in the creative process are both equally present, and I use exuberant, often unsettling color to heighten the sense of drama and frenetic energy. I tend to work in groups of paintings rather than series, where each painting might have a very different identity from the next, almost like a single song on an album. Within my work, I am attempting to sort through the visual and cultural clutter I encounter on a daily basis, and make something meaningful from it. My hope is to create paintings that take hold of the viewer, to force them to slow down, and live in the space of the painting.