ASSIGN MEANING

2026
8 × 11 in.
Mixed media on canvas
Original, one of one

Meaning is usually assigned after the fact.

A label. A receipt. A signature. A price. Suddenly an object becomes evidence that something mattered.

ASSIGN MEANING turns that process back on itself. Repeating forms move across fragments of language: I’M FINE. I’M LYING. I’M TRYING. Found material is absorbed into the painting rather than hidden, including the postal fragment above and the receipt below carrying the artist’s mark.

The work asks whether meaning actually exists inside an object, or whether we manufacture it through context, ownership, memory and attention.

Even the reverse carries the instruction:

“ASSIGN MEANING.”

Mixed media on canvas. Signed and dated verso.
Original artwork by Chase “SHAM” Smith.

$650