Excerpted review of FLOWMASTER exhibition by Kathy Zimmerer:         ArtScene April 1999

(Sunyata Gallery, San Pedro, CA)  Flowmaster, curated by Ron Linden, is an intriguing look at three interesting artists,  working as Linden says, in an “offbeat, politically and socially charged “ manner.

 

Dave Smith works in a subversive Pop mode that is both humorous and touching. His  Orange County Bathroom with Choice of 3 Vanities is a quirky parody of a model home brochure. Set against a newly constructed bathroom wall with a glistening shower head, three bathroom vanities  float in a cluster, held together by a postcard view of a suburban roofline with palm trees. The suburban ideal of owning your own home becomes mundane when it boils down to the selection of three boring vanities.

 

Smith precisely skewers the homogeneity of suburban life with other amusing and artful pieces. Dream Kitchen reads as an interesting abstract as well as a sample for  floor tile for the perfect house. All the amenities of suburban life are listed between the diagonal lines including  “Spill- Proof Shelves”, “Digital Timer”, “Fluff Cycle” and “Thru-Door Ice Dispenser”. In Western Landscape brilliantly colored images partially obscure  a wallpaper landscape with cowboys and Indians. The Day-Glo primary colors are the only jarring note in this patterned landscape, and two motor homes race through trying to see it all. Smith’s meticulously rendered canvases have a subtle irony that perfectly evokes the bland boredom of life in suburbia.