Aaron Alexander Smyth

‘Blood Weft’, Pencil drawing, 28x38cm.


‘Vertices’  investigates the multifaceted influences that define who we are as individuals and as a nation. It reflects on the varied Irish social and cultural points which inform our identity and shape us.

The title Vertices reflects this, it’s modern use defines each angular point that come together to describe and define the shape of an object. The more vertices in an object the more defined it becomes, if these points were to change so too would the form of the object. This acts as a strong metaphor to consider the bricolage of Irish social and cultural factors, artefacts and texts that often go unnoticed or uncredited and their intrinsic influence on the development of an Irish personal and cultural identity.

The exhibition will present a collection of drawings and prints in a range of different sized and composed of a mixture of monochromatic and colour works. These artworks blend object and figurative images to create an informative and multi-layered reflection on the beautiful and quiet things in Irish society and culture often overlooked.


By giving a voice to the influences that define who we are this collection of works strives to showcase an celebrate some of the factors that make us unique in our culture and heritage. The nature of it’s investigation which touches so heavily upon Irish identity strives to share these reflections with an international audience to give them a greater understanding of our culture and the multitude of vertices that come together to define our identity.

Vertices was developed for Invasion / вторжение , curated by Alexandra Orlova / Александра Орлова in The Zverev Center of Contemporary Art, Moscow.

“In this exhibition artists Aaron Smyth / Аарон Смит and Valery Korchagin / Валерий Корчагин investigate this phenomenon through the example of Russian and Irish cultural phenomena. Both series present an original dialogue between two cultures with authors self-identifying themselves in the complex system of national traditions.”