Leftovers Always Taste Better The Next Day, 2021
Bronze 10/10 + 2AP
Marble Unique
(h) 19 x (w) 24 x (d) 5 cm*
*exclusive scales available by commission
Leftovers Always Taste Better the Next Day was created during Lydia Smith’s residency in Montefollonico, Tuscany. The work originated from a scanned fragment of leftover plaster from the moulding process of Be More Like a Horse. Rather than reproducing the object faithfully, the scan generated warped, pixelated forms that exist only through technological interpretation.
These distortions redirected Smith’s attention toward the shifting conditions under which value and form are perceived. What initially appears incidental or disposable becomes, through translation, a site of transformation.
The title gestures toward this temporal and perceptual shift, suggesting that meaning can emerge through revisitation. The work invites a reconsideration of hierarchy and value, proposing that potential often resides within what is overlooked, deferred, or left behind.
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Each of Smith’s sculptures is accompanied by an editioned print that functions as its “DNA blueprint”, generated through the artist’s sculpting and scanning process. Printed as a fine art Giclée on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, one of the most archival papers available, the print operates both as documentation and as an independent artwork, preserving the sculpture’s essence in two-dimensional form.
For Smith, the print is an essential extension of the sculpture. Through digital processing, the form moves between dimensions, existing as both physical presence and flattened image. This pairing reflects her ongoing inquiry into how identity now operates across physical and digital realms, where presence is increasingly distributed, and a digital counterpart has become integral to how objects and individuals are seen and understood.
