Sam Smyth: Resonance

In his debut solo exhibition with Maddox Gallery—and his first worldwide—British Contemporary Artist Sam Smyth introduces a body of work that radiates with rhythm and clarity. Rooted in the traditions of Op Art, Hard Edge painting, and Colour Field abstraction, the thirteen works in ‘Resonance’ unfold as fluid experiences that ripple across the eyes like waves of sound. 

Influenced by the likes of Josef Albers and the Colourists, Smyth’s work continues a rich lineage of abstract art, propelling it into new terrain where colour evokes sensation and structure gives rise to rhythm. Having played piano since childhood, Smyth draws on this parallel discipline, its tempo echoing through his paintings. Colour hums. Shapes pulse.

Born into a deeply creative family in Bristol, Smyth was inspired early on by his father, a maker of paper-engineered pop-up books. This intricate, three-dimensional craft laid the foundations for a visual language that merges his signature flat finish with sculptural depth. 

Immersing himself in the linearity, openness and rigour of the post-painterly abstraction movement, he began refining a process grounded in precision and restraint. Today, his paintings emerge through meticulous masking, taping and overpainting of colour fields. It is a slow, deliberate practice, whereby each composition is wrestled into being and every line carries intention.

Smyth’s paintings are composed like music—structured yet expressive, grounded in repetition. “There’s a symphonic quality to Sam’s work that you don’t just see—you feel it,” explains Maddox’s Artistic Director, Maeve Doyle. “His precision is remarkable: horizons are razor-sharp and spheres appear to rise and fall with kinetic energy. Like the best of Bridget Riley, his compositions vibrate with life and movement.”  

Whether titled after a sonic quality, a flower or a place, the works in ‘Resonance’ ask to be experienced rather than understod—to be sat with, slowly, as colour becomes language, reverberating at a frequency beyond words.

‘Resonance’ by Sam Smyth, Maddox Gallery Shepherd Market, open from 10 April 2025.

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