Toys for Grown Ups: Sam Smith at The Scottish Fisheries Museum, Anstruther

There’s still time to catch the Sam Smith exhibition at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther. The artist’s painted wooden toys and sculpture will be on display until 5 January 2014. Hosted by the Museum and the University of St Andrews, this is the first time his work has come to Scotland and the first showing of his work in ten years.

Many of his works are toys for grown-ups with ‘adult’ depths of meaning. His figures can be seen as satirical, revealing deeper instincts beneath social conventions, all with a keen sense of the comical and an eye for the absurd.

The Scottish Fisheries Museum, above and below.

An admirer of the graphic tradition of Paul Nash, Edward Bawden and Eric Ravillious, Sam’s influence can in turn be seen in the work of British Pop artists such as Peter Blake and the surrealism of psychedelia.

He gained far greater success and popularity and an almost cult following in the States than he did in his home country although he has exhibited widely in England, including a major exhibition at The Serpentine in 1981. Unfortunately, he became ill during the exhibition and died in 1983.

Until Sunday 5 January 2014
Open : Mon – Sat : 10 – 4.30, Sun : 12 – 4.30, last admissions 1 hour before closing

©Sam Smith

Organised with the support of the Scottish Fisheries Museum, the Craft Council and the University of St Andrews.

All photos, except the Scottish Fisheries pictures, are the copyright of Sam Smith.