Josh Smith, it would seem, has barely dented his inexhaustible supply of dashed-off images and objects. He’s more interested in riffing than attempting to hone an aesthetic. Smith has previously characterized his works as being little more than markers of his own existence—expressing the idea most literally in the form of “signature” canvases daubed with the name JOSH SMITH—and to judge from the scrappy set of untitled panels here, he’s prepared to admit to a certain degree of self-doubt.
Smith employs an array of materials, including a grease pencil, ink, pigment and watercolor, wielding them with apparent nonchalance to produce spare, sketchy abstractions that sometimes hint at the three-dimensional forms of the show’s title, but more often suggest Cy Twombly’s scribbles. Rough figures are evoked and spindly forms that could be trees punctuate the works’ pale grounds. The overall impression is of improvised doodles—sometimes aimless, sometimes a little more focused but always unconcerned with any kind of resolution.—Michael Wilson