b'THE PROTECTORS OF RICHARD C. SMITHColin RhodesThere are presences here. Sometimes imploring. Sometimes returning theviewers gaze with steady impassivity. Faces pile on faces, in mass gatheringsof souls that gently throb as one, on crowded picture surfaces. The art ofRichard C. Smith is of the Earth. It connects intimately with primal, creativeforces that most of us can only dream of and wonder at. It seems more thanmere representation; somehow taking its place in the order of organic, livingthings. In a characteristically amiable, understated way, he remarks, Ive al-ways been interested in nature, for as long as I can remember. I would gofurther and argue that he is in touch with the very forces of nature. His sculp-tures and his drawings are eloquent testament to this.Smith belongs to a creative tradition, though not one that is connected bystyle, artistic influence, or association with a group, but rather by feeling. It isa tradition that is global in its spread, but in the northern European context ofwhich Smith is a part, he shares with the likes of William Blake, SamuelPalmer, Emil Nolde, Paul Klee, Asger Jorn, and Ted Hughes, to name just afew. In all of them the feeling for place and humanity is profound, singular,pantheistic and visionary, even. All in their way deal in myth and mystery. Intheir practice they commune ecstatically with the chaos of experience, ex-tracting the unknown from the everyday and rendering it tangible in their artand writing.5'