Siana Smith “CRMPL”

At the core of my practice is an inquiry into the human landscape—the terrain shaped not only by geography, but by memory, identity, attachment, and the persistent hum of technology. Working in oil and mixed media, I explore the tensions between intimacy and disconnection, between what we hold onto and what we discard.

As an immigrant and former software engineer, I bring two radically different material cultures into conversation: an upbringing in post–Cultural Revolution China, where objects were repaired and preserved long past their usefulness, and an adulthood in Silicon Valley, where abundance and disposability shape daily life. The friction between scarcity and excess, repair and replacement, has become a central force in my work.

My Contour of Desire series examines everyday objects as containers of memory, desire, and identity, asking what it means to be defined by what we own. The Crmpl series began with a simple act of attention: noticing beauty in a crumpled tissue. In these fragile, discarded forms, which begin to resemble flowers, faces, and fleeting apparitions, I find sites of transformation, where the language of waste opens onto questions of environmental consequence, impermanence, and human vulnerability.

My figurative paintings extend these concerns into contemporary life. Through domestic scenes and interpersonal relationships, they explore how technology reshapes the ways we connect, communicate, and pay attention. Figures share physical space while navigating worlds of divided attention, revealing both the possibilities and limitations of digital culture.

Across these bodies of work, I return to a recurring question: What do we hold, and what holds us? Through painting, I seek not definitive answers but opportunities for deeper reflection on the objects, relationships, and systems that shape our lives.