Richard C. Smith
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All Seeing demonstrates many of the typical elements of Smith’s sculpture.
A powerfully dominant, singular figure contains a multiform accumulation of
souls, at once both inscribed on its surfaces and articulated as complete al-
ternative creature from certain viewpoints – thus the kneeling figure domi-
nated by a shockingly mute and sightless white mask, which nevertheless
seems to contain the universe, is replaced when upturned by a seated and
altogether more gnomic apparition. In the sculpture, as in the drawings, in-
dividual elements often perform multiform tasks of representation. In All
Seeing, for example, hands (or perhaps paws) and elbows are also faces, and
feet are little figures that cling on for dear life, as though here is a creature
in which bodily integrity is at best tenuous, or which is some kind of pluricel-
lular organism. Moreover, the body literally opens up to reveal further
“souls” that can be released from cavities inside. 
Detail of “The All Seeing’’. View through one of the figure’s eyes.

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