Since his early teens, photographer Larry Smith has honed his technical skills, making them second nature, which has allowed him to focus on thoughtful observation and intuition. In doing so, he seizes on compositional opportunities many others dismiss or are oblivious to. Nothing is overtly spectacular about Smith’s chosen subjects. In fact, they are scenes, scenarios, and places we likely encounter every day. What is remarkable is his ability to glean from the ordinary an image worthy of consideration.

Smith’s knack for being in the right place at the right time coupled with his ability to recognize, compose, and capture an image in a fraction of a second is a combination that takes decades to perfect. His black and white photographs record what it is to be human—documenting the simple pleasure of family and friends, isolation in a world filled with others, moments of melancholy, and the monotony that fills the gaps.

Bio

Larry Smith (b. 1951) has lived in Abilene, Texas his entire life, but his photographs capture a broad range of subjects and locations. He first became interested in photography while helping his older brother develop high school yearbook photos. As an adult, he worked at Keaton Kolor, the Abilene photo lab, from 1973-1990, but never pursued fine art photography as a profession. With the exception of a solo show at the Center for Contemporary Arts in his hometown in the mid-1970s, Smith has not exhibited his work. For him, the act of creating is motivation enough.

Generously supported by OJAC Members.

IN THE CELL SERIES OF EXHIBITIONS

Statement from the artist’s website:

McKee Frazior treats the internet as physical material—not metaphorically, but structurally. He is interested in the infrastructure beneath the surface: latency, entropy, network protocols, and the ephemera that accumulates through use and neglect. He considers himself a hypermedia artist, which is a real thing he did not make up. His works are rarely static. They adapt to prior interactions and states, making the audience an integral part of the process whether they consented to that or not. His current obsessions include QR codes and the internet as a substrate that decays, forgets, and occasionally apologizes without meaning it. Themes of awkwardness, play, mild anxiety, and systems failing gracefully permeate his output.

Frazior was born in 1979 at Spohn Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has yet to reach his life expectancy. While working toward that goal, he attended the University of Texas at Austin (BFA 2002) and SMU Guildhall (Graduate Certificate in Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development, 2005), receiving papers from both. He has exhibited himself and others across Texas, never receiving a citation for doing so. He holds an MFA in New Media from Texas Christian University (2025). He exists geographically, mainly in the DFW area, playing with internet infrastructure, QR codes, drawing, software, sound, video, text, interactivity, and the space between wards.

Response from OJAC:

We are not sure just yet what he plans to do in the Cell Series, but not too worried about it.

Supported by The Charles E. Jacobs Foundation, McGinnis Family Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas, and Dr. Larry Wolz.