Samantha Keely Smith's paintings are landscapes that play at the edge of abstraction, blurring between light-filled fields and non-objective compositions. Light suffuses the works through soft clouds of brushstrokes, while canvases like "Salvage" (2010) create contrast with ropey, surreal structures inhabiting the transcendental space.

Samantha Keely Smith's paintings are radiant with pulsating fiery potency. Yet they present a disquieting chilly vision of a world that is no longer welcoming for humans. The New York-based artist's magnificent semi-abstract landscapes keep to a strictly limited palette of predominantly complementary colors. Its compelling contrasts nonetheless create a sense of total harmony which captures our imagination by creating the arresting aura of a world full and fulfilled without the presence of any extraneous life-forms.