“Personal Color Codex,” featuring the abstract works of Anthony Smith, Jr. and Michael Freeman, continues through April 23, Arthaus at the Mezz, Renaissance Allentown Hotel, Allentown.

Smith’s “The Incomparable Yhana Evonne No. 2” (2022; mixed media, 20 in. x 25 in.) is one in a series of 10 honoring his late sister Yhana.

Smith says that “No. 2” portrays her as “royal or regal or divine as she was to me. She was an artist in her own way,” says Smith.

The abstract is paper and tape wrapped around cedar shingles to create a rough texture and jagged edges. The stitch-like detail work is rendered in multi-colored fine point Sharpie markers.

Smith received a BA in Fine Arts from Amherst College in 1999 and an MFA in Painting from the University of Michigan in 2001. He teaches drawing at Northampton Community College. The Allentown-based artist has a studio in the Banana Factory, Bethlehem.

“At this time there were a lot of things going on in my head,” says Freeman concerning “Outer Chaos” (2021; acrylic on canvas, 36 in. x 48 in.).

The visually-impaired abstract painter explains that with tunnel vision, he is legally blind, as well as color blind.

“I use all that frustration in being abused growing up and put on the canvas,” says Freeman. “So, this is all those emotions at different times.”

He describes “Outer Chaos” as a “battle on a battlefield” with red paint splattered across a multi-colored landscape. Glow-in-the-dark paint rendered in areas of the work is activated with a black UV light below the painting.

The dark areas of his paintings represent “those really bad times for me.” The lighter colors of the works relate to his being in “a better mind space,” says Freeman.

Freeman has been painting for around three years. The self-taught artist works out of his home studio in Easton. Freeman works for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Bethlehem, and volunteers for Sights for Hope, Allentown.

Arthaus at the Mezz, curated by Deborah Rabinsky, is a partnership between RE:find and the Allentown Arts Commission.

Arthaus at the Mezz, mezzanine gallery, Renaissance Allentown Hotel, 12 N. Seventh St., Allentown. 610-841-4866