This summer, one of the most intriguing and surprising exhibitions might find you. Paul Anthony Smith’s “Melodies from a running spring”, presented by Public Art Fund, is currently appearing on 300 JCDecaux bus shelters across New York, Boston, and Chicago through September 7, 2025. Once you know they exist, these black-and-white modified photographs pull you closer through their magnetic detail and unexpected placements.
Paul Anthony Smith, a Jamaican-born, New York City-based artist is known for his signature “picotage” technique – a process of gouging the surface of his photographs hundreds of times with a handmade tool (see it on his Instagram). The effect resembles glitter or LED lights from a distance and can obscure or highlight areas of the image – pulling details out of the darkness, adding a geometric background pattern, or camouflaging sections.
In this new series of work, Smith photographed St. Thomian Olympic fencer Daryl Homer and Jamaican interdisciplinary artist Zachary Fabri in natural landscapes. Within the photographs, their movements are often in conversation with each other, but also, because of the artworks’ near-life-size scale, can draw surprising comparisons to silhouettes of unknowing pedestrians nearby.
Known for his works that explores the Caribbean diaspora, Smith offers a contrasting view than the color-saturated tourist marketing campaigns that can sensationalize Jamaica and the Caribbean and often erase the native communities. This advertising counterpoint also relates to their specific placement, occupying areas that normally hold ads for movies, products, and more.
It’s worth noting that these are 300 prints of nine original “picotage” works. Though not textured themselves, they are produced at such high resolution that it is nearly impossible to discern whether you’re looking at actual paper punctures or photographs of punctures. In fact as I was photographing the two detail shots for this article (above), I had a friendly debate with a stranger about whether these were 2D or 3D. I don’t think they believed me. Everything about these – from the content, color, material, location, and detail – results in great moments of unexpected pause in a city that is constantly competing for your time and visual attention.
Visit Public Art Fund’s website to find interactive maps of the artwork in New York, Boston, and Chicago, but the best experience is simply to keep your attention open. I also recommend following his two galleries for future exhibitions of his work: Jack Shainman Gallery in New York, and Timothy Taylor in London.
What: Paul Anthony Smith: Melodies from a running spring
Where: Presented by Public Art Fund on 300 JCDecaux bus shelters in New York City, Boston, and Chicago (map link)
When: July 9 -September 7, 2025
All images Courtesy of Paul Anthony Smith and Public Art Fund, New York.