Shinique Smith
02 Apr - 12 May 2010
SHINIQUE SMITH
“No Words”
April 2 - May 12, 2010
Yvon Lambert is pleased to announce Shinique Smith’s No Words, the artist’s first solo exhibition in France. No Words will feature new works by the American artist including several paintings and a sculptural installation.
The exhibition will run concurrently with a show by Jason Dodge at the gallery, and both exhibitions will be on view from April 2 until May 12, 2010.
Shinique Smith explores tacit concepts and memories that many of us ponder, from which the show’s title No Words is drawn. The artist examines personal memories as well as collective ones, contemplating her own role within an increasingly multifarious society. Smith repeats bulbous, often spherical elements throughout her work, layering brushstrokes and collage elements with bold colors and fluid lines. Infusing an ardent style owing to Abstract Expressionism and Japanese Calligraphy, the continuity of Smith’s paintings and sculptures combine a graceful spontaneity and an explosive, yet controlled, movement. In each medium the artist utilizes discarded objects, many of which alone lack significance, but collectively possess greater meaning. Integrating intense and vibrantly hued textiles that weave in and out of each work, Smith creates her own form of calligraphic gesture that transgresses the written language.
Mythology, lore, and spiritual imagery inspire the works of No Words. The artist reflects upon myriad physical, psychological, and transcendental theological states including: rapture, which is the mystical experience of transportation to a divine realm, as well as the mystery of consciousness. Smith uses abstraction, color, and material as vehicles to meditate on these ideas; for the artist, the making of these works was partly ritualistic. Her use of the mandala—a pattern ripe with organic, spiritual, and cosmic symbolism—is poignant given the artist’s concerns. The juxtaposition of the natural, including feathers, stones and fresh flowers, with the manufactured, such as beer cans, bricks, and plastic toys, signifies the relationships not only between substances, but also between man and material.
Smith’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally at venues including The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The New Museum, New York; Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin; PS 1 Contemporary Arts Center, New York; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana; Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York; and The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado. She is included in public collections such as The Denver Art Museum, Colorado; The Studio Museum, New York; The Margulies Collection, Miami; The Rubell Family Collection,Miami; and the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore.
“No Words”
April 2 - May 12, 2010
Yvon Lambert is pleased to announce Shinique Smith’s No Words, the artist’s first solo exhibition in France. No Words will feature new works by the American artist including several paintings and a sculptural installation.
The exhibition will run concurrently with a show by Jason Dodge at the gallery, and both exhibitions will be on view from April 2 until May 12, 2010.
Shinique Smith explores tacit concepts and memories that many of us ponder, from which the show’s title No Words is drawn. The artist examines personal memories as well as collective ones, contemplating her own role within an increasingly multifarious society. Smith repeats bulbous, often spherical elements throughout her work, layering brushstrokes and collage elements with bold colors and fluid lines. Infusing an ardent style owing to Abstract Expressionism and Japanese Calligraphy, the continuity of Smith’s paintings and sculptures combine a graceful spontaneity and an explosive, yet controlled, movement. In each medium the artist utilizes discarded objects, many of which alone lack significance, but collectively possess greater meaning. Integrating intense and vibrantly hued textiles that weave in and out of each work, Smith creates her own form of calligraphic gesture that transgresses the written language.
Mythology, lore, and spiritual imagery inspire the works of No Words. The artist reflects upon myriad physical, psychological, and transcendental theological states including: rapture, which is the mystical experience of transportation to a divine realm, as well as the mystery of consciousness. Smith uses abstraction, color, and material as vehicles to meditate on these ideas; for the artist, the making of these works was partly ritualistic. Her use of the mandala—a pattern ripe with organic, spiritual, and cosmic symbolism—is poignant given the artist’s concerns. The juxtaposition of the natural, including feathers, stones and fresh flowers, with the manufactured, such as beer cans, bricks, and plastic toys, signifies the relationships not only between substances, but also between man and material.
Smith’s work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally at venues including The National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; The New Museum, New York; Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin; PS 1 Contemporary Arts Center, New York; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana; Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York; and The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado. She is included in public collections such as The Denver Art Museum, Colorado; The Studio Museum, New York; The Margulies Collection, Miami; The Rubell Family Collection,Miami; and the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore.