Ornaminimalism  writing + art by LAUREL SMITH 
 

Smith uses the color red as a metaphor for visual art. Her Red Glare project highlights the ubiquitous nature of red-colored and red-lettered phenomena that is often taken for granted, and proposes to isolate it on the red planet, Mars. By removing red from Earth and projecting it to Mars, Smith also considers art's larger educative contribution wherein viewers momentarily suspend their prior knowledge and engage as active learners.

The Red Glare project includes an ongoing collection of red-titled books, drawings based on the bibliographic presentations of that collection, wall mounted paintings, large format photographs, souvenir pins, artist bookworks, and dissertation titled "The Right Red: From Viewer to Learner". Smith has also launched her Red Art 2 Mars gallery program that features other artists' research that plays on appearances and interpretations of red.