Sable Elyse Smith

Last updated
Sable Elyse Smith
Born1986
Los Angeles, California
Nationality American
Education Oglethorpe University, Parsons School of Design
Known for interdisciplinary art

Sable Elyse Smith (born 1986) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator based in New York. [1] Smith works in photography, neon, text, appropriated imagery, [2] sculpture, and video installation connecting language, violence, and pop culture with autobiographical subject matter. [3] In 2018, Smith was an Artist-in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. [4] Her work was first featured at several areas such as MoMA ps1, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia, MIT list visual arts center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other places. [5] The artist lives and works in Richmond, Virginia, and New York City. [6] She has been an assistant professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University since 2020. [7]

Contents

Early life and education

Smith was born in 1986 [8] in Los Angeles, California. [1] Smith holds a B.A. in studio art and film from Oglethorpe University and a MFA in Design & Technology from Parsons the New School for Design. [4]

Work

Smith often uses surveillance tape to explore the structure of the incarcerated labor system and its corruption. [6]

A Clockwork (2021) at the Whitney Museum in 2022 A Clockwork, 2021, Sable Elyse Smith at Whitney 2022.jpg
A Clockwork (2021) at the Whitney Museum in 2022

Smith makes sculptures and two-dimensional works that raise questions about societal problems. Her work is inspired by her father who had been incarcerated for most of her life. [3] Her work uses common objects from the prison system to question labor, class, and memory with emphasis on the everyday effects of institutional violence. [9] [2] Smith uses coloring books for children used in court setting as a subject in some of her 2D works. [2] Smith has talked about her work stating: “The work should never say the same thing to every viewer. It is multi-vocal in its address and affect—that's the point." [8] She has received several awards from Creative Capital, Fine Arts Work Center, the Queens Museum, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Rea Hort Mann Foundation, the Franklin Furnace Fund, and Art Matter. [5]

Smith has also made sculptures from furniture designed for the prison system. [10] Her large-scale sculpture A Clockwork (2021), a motorized rotating ferris wheel made of jet-black tables and chairs designed for prison visitation rooms, was included in Quiet as It's Kept, the 2022 Whitney Biennial. [11]

Exhibitions

Smith has staged an array of solo shows at galleries and museums in the United States and internationally. Her notable solo shows include Sable Elyse Smith: Blue is Ubiquitous and Forbidden (2015), SOHO20, New York; [12] Sable Elyse Smith: Ordinary Violence (2017-2018), Queens Museum, New York; [13] How We Tell Stories to Children (2018), Atlanta Contemporary; [14] or the song spilling out (2019), Carlos/Ishikawa Gallery, London; [15] and Tithe (2022), JTT Gallery, New York. [16]

She has also participated in a large number of group exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial (2022); [17] and the 59th Venice Biennale (2022). [18]

Notable works in public collections

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References

  1. 1 2 "Queens Museum" . Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  2. 1 2 3 Reid, Tiana (2018-12-13). "Artist Sable Elyse Smith Was Horrified by a Kids' Coloring Book About the Courts". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  3. 1 2 Fisher, Cora (2017-11-11). "An Artist's Bond with Her Imprisoned Father". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  4. 1 2 Valentine, Victoria L. (2017-11-10). "Studio Museum in Harlem Announces 2018 Artists-in-Residence". Culture Type. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  5. 1 2 "The School of the Arts Welcomes Sable Elyse Smith, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts". Columbia - School of the Arts. Retrieved 2022-06-15.
  6. 1 2 Herriman, Kat (2017-08-22). "Artist Sable Elyse Smith Takes on the Prison Narrative with New Work". Cultured Magazine. Retrieved 2020-06-16.
  7. ↑ "Columbia University" . Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  8. 1 2 Mafi, Nick (2020-06-16). "Young Black Artists Speak About the Role of Art in This Moment". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  9. ↑ "MOOD: Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2018–19 | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  10. ↑ McLean, Matthew (28 January 2020). "Sable Elyse Smith Responds to the Rigged Logic of the US Criminal Justice System". frieze (209). Archived from the original on 28 January 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  11. ↑ Durón, Maximilíano (29 March 2022). "12 Standouts at the 2022 Whitney Biennial, Where Poetic Reflections on Past Two Years Shine Brightly". ARTnews . Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  12. ↑ "Sable Elyse Smith: Blue is Ubiquitous and Forbidden". Soho20 Chelsea . Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  13. ↑ "Sable Elyse Smith at Queens Museum, New York". ARTnews . 26 December 2017. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  14. ↑ "Sable Elyse Smith". Atlanta Contemporary Art Center . Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  15. ↑ "Sable Elyse Smith at Carlos/Ishikawa". Artforum . Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  16. ↑ Fateman, Johanna. "Sable Elyse Smith". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on 6 November 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  17. ↑ "2022 Whitney Biennial". Whitney. Whitney Museum. Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  18. ↑ "Sable Elyse Smith". LaBiennale. Venice Biennale. 5 April 2022. Archived from the original on 18 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  19. ↑ "How We Tell Stories to Children". Brooklyn Museum . Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  20. ↑ "7665 Days". Whitney. Whitney Museum. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  21. ↑ "7665 Nights". Whitney. Whitney Museum. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  22. ↑ "Visiting". Brooklyn Museum . Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  23. ↑ "Coloring Book 9". Guggenheim. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  24. ↑ "8093 Days". Hessel Museum. Bard College. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  25. ↑ "Coloring Book 61". ICAMiami. Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  26. ↑ "Coloring Book 66". Hessel Museum. Bard College. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  27. ↑ "Coloring Book 98". Hessel Museum. Bard College. Archived from the original on 21 December 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
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