British artist Richard C. Smith’s polychrome
wooden sculptures would have electrified
Andre Breton. 
Phillippe Dagen, Le Monde, October 2, 2013
A rare discovery, Richard C Smith is an
artist of great depth and original vision.
John Maizels: Founder of Raw Vision Magazine,
author of Raw Creation: Outsider Art & Beyond
Richard C. Smith’s marvellous images are 
a revelation. They grow out of an ancient
Earth that most of us can only guess at.
Densely realised, intense and direct, his
work belongs to that pantheistic place
where even inanimate matter has life 
force. In this domain humans cling together
in the face of some unknowable, but ever-
present world-spirit. In his drawings he 
is a most subtle and beguiling colourist,
while his sculptures are grittily direct.
Smith is an important artist who is a fellow
voyager with the likes of William Blake,
Anselm Boix-Vives, Miguel Hernandez and
Asger Jorn.
Colin Rhodes, author of Outsider Art: Spontaneous Alternatives
The wooden branches that Richard C. Smith
gathers and carves are transformed into
anthropomorphic figures and totems.
These statuettes, some of them articulated,
conceal cavities that reveal other figurines,
as if they were inhabited by beings from the
beyond. On found paper, the artist also
traces a multitude of personages who in-
termingle and contort themselves, echoing
the three-dimensional works. Richard C.
Smith entrusts us here with the keys to his
inner world, one where supernatural forces
are at work.
Sarah Lombardi. Director, Collection de l'Art Brut
In his drawings, Richard C. Smith master-
fully expresses the mystery of an indistinct
and undefined world, reflecting our 
struggle to make sense of an identity that is
undergoing a painful birth, or is liable, at
any moment, to disappear into nothingness.
He holds up a mirror to our souls – souls in
distress – and allows us to view it through
the filter of poetry. This makes him a great
artist.
Bruno Decharme.  ABCD Collection, Paris
Cover Image “The Offering”, 2013. 
24 inches tall, carved wood
Collection Museum Het Dolhuys, Netherlands
HENRY BOXER GALLERY
www.outsiderart.co.uk

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