b'Richard C. SmithChoice of materials is crucially important. Though their value to him is judgednot by shiny newness or expense, but by the ability to serve as conveyor ofmeaning. I like to use old and found paper, he says, I dont feel right aboutusing new paper. Ive had people buy me nice paper and I cant use it. I dontfeel the same about it. Part of the essence of the works is giving somethinganother chance. Maybe its because Ive had more than my fair share of luckybreaks. One of Smiths favoured drawing surfaces is a thick, brown paper,used to wrap bananas while in transit from grower to store. Rescued and flat-tened out, these sheets present a ground resilient enough to endure the insis-tent physicality of his technique, allowing intensely subtle images to emerge.Similarly, the wood used for his sculpture consists of found pieces, from fruittrees, to acacia and oak; hard, close-grained woods that are demanding tocarve, but lend themselves to the subtle detailed results he desires. Further-more, the wood cant be any old piece. It must talk to him. Not literally,he says, but awakening an intuition in him: Ive got a big feeling for it, youknow. A large piece, All Seeing (2014) is a case in point. The core element isa piece from a hundred-year-old pear tree from France. A nearby barn hadrecently burnt down and though not itself incinerated the heat from the firehad killed the tree. When I was there last year, he says, I picked up thewood and brought it home. I felt a lot for it. I Wanted to give it anotherchance; another life.9'