Peter Smyth is an Irish artist currently based in County Kildare, Ireland. With a process that merges his interests in nature, technology, and art, Smyth begins with computer-generated renderings, which then serve as creative stimuli for his paintings. He draws inspiration from the natural world, referencing facets of various ecosystems in his models—from leaves and petals to hyphal tips. The paintings from his debut solo show earlier this year, entitled ‘Mutualisms,’ explore the parallels that Smyth sees between the digital process and painting, and that of plant life and its relationship with fungi and the wider ecological landscape.

“Mutualism is usually defined in terms of interaction between individuals of different species which result in beneficial effects. In this sense,” he explains, “painting is entangled in a mutualistic relationship with the digital medium and vice versa, in a cyclical process of creation. What we are presented with however are just painting, no digital pieces, like how we often recognize what is above the ground but not the processes below which allow the conditions for it to thrive.”

See more from Peter Smyth below!