June has arrived and there’s no better time to introduce you to Seth Smith Summer paintings. Inviting depictions of swimming pools at Midcentury Modern hotels, motels and private homes by the talented 43 year old artist will make you want to don a swimming cap and jump on in.
Seth Smith Summer Paintings of Swimming Pools
Seth Smith was born and raised in Kansas where he still lives. Having graduated from the University of Kansas City with a degree in painting and printmaking, his artworks of summer pool scenes caught my eye many years ago and I’m long overdue in introducing you to his aesthetically appealing work.
Now living and working in the Kansas City area, Seth has a repertoire of both and work, but as is my known preference, his are what drew me to him.
His choices of subjects, the venues and his unusual color palette, all harken back to the 50s, 60s and 70s. Along with the swimming pools, his signage, motels, boxy little houses, drive-in cinemas, diners, airstreams and other Midcentury Modern icons are all depicted in a loose, painterly fashion that is both simultaneously calming and compelling.
The artist’s palette of sherbet-like pinks and oranges, pale blues and golden ochres feel like faded polaroids from the 60s and 70s, infusing his work with the nostalgia of childhood family vacations.
His paintings of swimmers recall another artist’s famous “pool paintings”, those of David Hockney. Pinkie and Stripes, both shown below, are reminiscent of Hockney’s 1972
Imprecise and painterly, the works have a feeling of movement with the details implied by vigorous strokes.
Several of his paintings separate the viewer from the pool scene by placing them inside a diner, watching like an uninvited voyeur, such as is the case in Dined, Moonrise Kingdom and Graceland, all shown below.
Seth has collectors, private and corporate, all over the world and pieces in the permanent collections of H&R Block World Headquarters and the University of Kansas Business School. I, too, hope to be amongst those who own one of his paintings someday.
all images courtesy of the artist
