Gallery Blurb:

Since the early ‘80s, artist Ashley Smith has lived and worked from a crumbling, windswept headland on the North Canterbury coast. He bought the land after discovering, during the course of a six year global odyssey, that his juices liked being near the sea and were most stimulated by his home region’s crazy weather patterns.

“The sudden shifts of life’s flow passing through and around us; culturally, meteorologically, personally, always have the power to surprise.

You’re an island nation of pristine waters and clamorous birdcall when a sail broaches the horizon…

You glance up from an endless summer to find a rampaging southerly bearing down on you. …A young family-man, raising a home on a rural headland,  a moment’s distraction and suddenly you’re an old, bald bloke rummaging for the car keys and your friend’s name…

Ashley Smith hopes these paintings, from a milestone period of his life will, like life’s gearshifts, have the power to surprise.”