Paper pulp, envelopes, postage stamps, bar rag, artist frame, 2023
In Air Mail #3, Smillie uses the conventions of paper-making practices to re-create the loose border of an envelope and its contents, using pieces of various Air Mail envelopes that were found at an estate sale. These envelopes were sourced as part of a complete personal archive kept from a lifetime of correspondence between an individual in Canada and an individual in Greece. By breaking the envelopes down to pulp and recomposing them in their inexactitude, Smillie ascribes an anonymous portrait of imagined romance to the relationship between these two unnamed pen pals.
Bronson Smillie holds a BFA in painting and drawing from Concordia University and lives in Tiohti:áke/Montréal. He is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice involves sourcing objects and creating works with materials that no longer fulfill their purpose within late-capitalist modes of consumption. Solo presentations include Almost Begin at Afternoon Projects (Vancouver); A Place for Everything and NADA New York at april april (New York); Tempo 85 at Espace Maurice (Montréal); and Forever is Closing at MoMAPS311 (Ottawa). Group exhibitions include Zalucky Contemporary (Toronto); Nicelle Beauchene Gallery (New York); LVL3 (Chicago); AXENÉO7 (Gatineau); and Petrohradská Kolektiv (Prague).