Smits primarily works with two media: photography and sculpture. First, he shoots his own portraits and landscapes whenever he travels on his moped through Europe. Second, he collects photos from books and pamphlets found in second hand markets along the way. These images are also used in his work.
Mainly constructed out of concrete, the artist's sculptural work incorporates photo images and objects collected on his past journeys. The sculptures form a collage revealing stories of his travels, monuments representing his journeys through Europe.
By casting photos in concrete, Smits claims to have invented photographic-concrete, which he refers to as: "Concretography™", a method of fossilising photographs. For instance, during his travels he casted one of his works high up a mountain in a secret location in Switzerland. Smits aims to turn contemporary objects and photographs into fossils. The idea that archaeologists would find his work in the future, debate and determine what they found, gives Smits great enjoyment.
Tommy Smits, who graduated in 2017 from the Royal Academy in The Hague, has a unique visual language and way of working. We are pleased to see Ten Haaf Projects gallery filled with many of his large sculptures. During the opening celebration, Smits will hand out and sign c­opies of his latest photographic edition. This will be the artist's first solo exhibition.