Across and down. The directional designation of clues in a crossword puzzle’s spatial grid. Down and across. The literal reverse, yet not at all equal and opposite – particularly if applied to the puzzle of life. Across and down deploys and controls from the high ground. Down and across struggles to rise back up from below. In primary school we learnt to differentiate between stalactites hanging tight from the ceiling of caves and stalagmites standing mightily up from the cave floor, formed by calcareous water dripping down from the stalactites. Two gravitational positions from which to view life, the world and, in turn, compose pictures. – Ian Smith (catalogue extract)
Image: Ian Smith, Island messages 2010, Oil & acrylic on canvas, 67 x 107 cm
