Josh Smith

American artist Josh Smith is renowned for the diversity of his artistic practice and for the wide range of different styles in which he works. Originally trained as a printmaker, but primarily known for his paintings, Smith also makes sculptures, ceramics, books, prints and posters, and is a consummate draftsman. His art is deeply subjective and, by questioning contemporary tastes and norms, often counter-cultural. Typically working in series, and freely borrowing from the vocabulary of modern painting, his canvases are expressionistic, gestural and colourful. Smith works prolifically, but also strategically and methodically. Yet for all their apparent spontaneity, his canvases are ultimately the product of an intense psychological process, with some pieces taking years to complete. Smith has said that he ‘thinks in paint’ and, to this end, his art can be seen as a vehicle for the testing of ideas and as a form of interrogation, be it about the creative process itself, what it means to be an artist, or the vagaries of everyday life.

Josh Smith (b. 1976, Okinawa, Japan) lives and works in New York. Solo exhibitions include: Josh Smith: Life Drawing, The Drawing Center, NY (2024); Josh Smith, Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn, Germany (2016); Josh Smith, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma, Italy (2015); The American Dream, Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich, Connecticut (2011); and Hidden Darts, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Vienna, Austria (2008). His works are held in major public and private collections: Centre Pompidou, Paris; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pinault Collection, Paris; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; and Brandhorst, Munich, among others.