Sterling Smith
Around me/you, 2025
Panasonic CRT TV
As an artist working in New Media, technology and juxtaposed themes have always been a part of my work. Subjects that deal with and portray liminal spaces, illusion, light/dark, and glitch are prevalent in everything I make, from photography to video art to sound art.
Inspiration for Around Me/You comes from an influx of surreal videos and fluid graphics I've seen recently. Through video collage of hyper-real visuals, dreamlike footage of mundane life, and documentation of modernist/brutalist architecture, I wanted to capture the feeling of living in a realm constantly enveloped by technology and changing ideals of reality.
The audio, a remix of "Headlock" (2005) by Imogen Heap, is about feeling trapped by self-doubt and fear, preventing you from starting something new even though you know you're capable of more. This is supplemented by the overlapping visuals and glitch-heavy transitions, again presenting an ever-changing reality that demands you adapt to it.
About:
As an artist working in New Media, technology and juxtaposed themes have always been a part of Sterling Smith's work. Subjects that deal with and portray liminal spaces, illusion, light/dark, and glitch are prevalent in everything he makes, from photography to video art to sound art.
Smith has always found modern surreal aesthetics like liminal spaces, analog horror, illusionary images (and most popularly the “Backrooms”) to be of great interest due to how they sit within the "uncanny valley" a zone where a certain level of normalcy and humanity is recognized, but there is something off about it that makes it feel wrong—slightly too “real” or not “real” enough.
Light/dark and glitch are sources of inspiration for Smith as well because light and its absence are what create form, shape, and depth. Lighting can influence the quality and meaning of an entire work and distorting that light with glitch and other effects allows for control of the environment in ways that are beyond our immediate visual experience.
Instagram: @silvic.ifx