Trampling Over the Classics is my conversation with art history, a push and pull between reverence and irreverence. These paintings borrow the emotional weight, compositional power, and quiet grandeur of Renaissance and classical art, only to dismantle and reimagine them through a contemporary lens.
I’m fascinated by the tension between what we inherit and what we create anew. The process often begins with a nod to the structure and sensibility of the Old Masters, fragments of figures, the rhythm of drapery, or the gravity of a timeless pose. From there, the work becomes an act of liberation: layers are scraped away, forms are fractured, and colour surges in where history once demanded restraint. This series isn’t about rejecting tradition, it’s about keeping it alive by allowing it to change. By breaking apart the familiar, I aim to uncover something raw, something that speaks to the present while still carrying the bones of the past. In Trampling Over the Classics, heritage and innovation meet on equal footing. It’s a space where the weight of history is acknowledged, but never allowed to stand still.
I’m fascinated by the tension between what we inherit and what we create anew. The process often begins with a nod to the structure and sensibility of the Old Masters, fragments of figures, the rhythm of drapery, or the gravity of a timeless pose. From there, the work becomes an act of liberation: layers are scraped away, forms are fractured, and colour surges in where history once demanded restraint. This series isn’t about rejecting tradition, it’s about keeping it alive by allowing it to change. By breaking apart the familiar, I aim to uncover something raw, something that speaks to the present while still carrying the bones of the past. In Trampling Over the Classics, heritage and innovation meet on equal footing. It’s a space where the weight of history is acknowledged, but never allowed to stand still.
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Ian Rayer Smith, Soul rider, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, The Divulgence of Decadence, 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Air, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Vanity Seeds, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, High Society , 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Eterna, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Depth of soul, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Flourishing intensions , 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Daydream , 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, The pursuit of happiness , 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Fractured , 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, One last time, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Starlight grace, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Keepers and Gallants, 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Flow, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Laguna , 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Post Terram, 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, New horizons, 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Everlasting , 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Wandering, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Dawn, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Grandiosity in a way of being, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Journey Among Worlds, 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Portal 6 , 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Show Me the Stars, 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Shroud , 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, I'm looking at you, you're looking at me', 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Spring Tales , 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Postured and Poised , 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Garden Party, 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Freedom in the fields #1, 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Regal Days, 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Freedom in the fields #2 , 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, The moment of an empty space, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Souffle, 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, A sense of getting closer, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Unreality , 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, First light, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Long sustain, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, The moment of our dreams, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Fractures, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Above the Vaulted Sky, 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Wonders of life , 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Flaunting with Scenarios , 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, The Garden of Heinous Delights, 2019 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Carried by Angels, 2021 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Fractals , 2023 -
Ian Rayer Smith, The Visit, 2025 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Change of Scenery , 2024 -
Ian Rayer Smith, Untouched