Dean Smith
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sightlines, 2014
Katzen Center for the Arts, Washington, DC
Dean Smith creates drawings, collages, and videos. His work reflects upon the measure of time and a ceaseless human impulse to render the invisible visible by inviting us to join in a slow, rich meditation on an idea as it unfolds to its conclusion.
He discusses his practice in a recent audio conversation with musician, Peter Conheim and artist, Gina Borg; and in an Art Practical interview with artist and perfumer, Bruno Fazzolari.
Smith is a recipient of a California Arts Council Fellowship Award and his work is placed in prominent public collections, including The British Museum; Hammer Museum; LACMA; Albright-Knox Art Gallery; The Art Institute of Chicago; Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Smith lives and works in Oakland, California.
Artist Statement
My work is currently divided into three series. Each of these series is concerned with the element of time.
In the intooutof and focusing drawings, time is condensed into a series of small energetic staccato marks clustered together and radiating outwards to create a dynamic field of energy. In the careful and determined repetition of making each tiny mark, time is expressed as an energetic performative act; that is, being a record of my actions and, paradoxically, a visual presentation of the non-visual.
The labyrinth series depicts ahistorical geometric forms drawn precisely, yet delicately, on found vintage paper—time presented both as rumination and physical fact. By their refusal to be specific in their representation, speaking to both past and future structures, these linear shapes become transcendental forms. Like the intooutof and focusing drawings, the labyrinth series is also, paradoxically, a visual presentation of the non-visual.
The environment collage series reflects time in a manner akin to the labyrinth series. Constructed of fragments sourced from 19th century engraving illustrations (originally published in journals such as the London Illustrated News), these collages simultaneously mirror the time of the source material and obfuscate it. While the original pictures were representational (being images meant to illustrate news events or travelogues of the day), in my work the various collaged elements are arranged to abstract rather than reveal their figural nature. What becomes articulated is a space that is deeply oneiric.
To play with time is to explore the condition of reverie, and as Gaston Bachelard states, “Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul.”
Dean Smith
Oakland, Calif.
January 2021
RESUME
Born 1961, Oakland, California
Education
1988 M.F.A. University of California, Berkeley
1987 M.A. Painting, University of California, Berkeley
1984 B.A. Practice of Art, University of California, Berkeley
1984 B.A. History of Art, University of California, Berkeley
Solo Exhibitions
2016
Entrance, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012
Three Manifestations of Anaglyphic Space, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2009
Dean Smith: thought forms 2003-2009, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2007
thought forms, Fringe Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Dean Smith: Works on Paper, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
thought forms, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Dean Smith: Drawings, Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2004
Dean Smith: Drawings, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY
2003
Transmission, Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Random Encounters: Dean Smith, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
2002
Dean Smith/MATRIX 201b, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley
Dean Smith: New Work, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2001
Dean Smith: Drawings, Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2000
Dean Smith: Drawings, Christopher Grimes Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1999
Dean Smith: Drawings, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
1995
Growth Chamber: New Paintings, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
1993
Senex and Puer: New Paintings, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
1992
The Second Day: Works on Paper, Turn of the Century Fine Arts, Berkeley, CA
Two-Person Exhibitions
2016
Haunted Formalism: Nicole Phungrasamee Fein and Dean Smith, VOLUME & Del Vaz Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Annabeth Rosen and Dean Smith, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2011
Mark Sheinkman and Dean Smith, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA
1992
Robert Howard and Dean Smith, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
Selected GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019
Shapeshifter, Gregory Lind Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2018
Way Bay 2, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley
Visual Anthology: Artworks and the Book, Anglim Gilbert Gallery, CA
2017
The Future Eve, Fellows of Contemporary Art (FOCA), Los Angeles, CA
2015
Retropective: A Tribute to Paule Anglim, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Bye Bye Old City: The Last Picture Show, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA
2014
un•bound•ed, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
Four Faces, Marc Selwyn Fine Arts, Beverly Hills, CA
Summer in Black and White …And Color, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
Sightlines, American University Art Museum, Katzen Center for the Arts, Washington, DC
2013
Unseen, Aimee Friberg Exhibitions/Cult, San Francisco, CA
Space: 1999, Incline Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Afterglow: Rethinking California Light and Space Art, Saint Mary's College Museum of Art, Moraga, CA
2012
DocumentO, Krowswork, Oakland, CA
2011
Afterglow: Rethinking California Light and Space Art, University Library Art Gallery, California State University, Sacramento, CA
Absence/Presence: Contemporary Abstraction, University Art Gallery, California State University, Sonoma, CA
Better A Live Ass Than A Dead Lion, Eli Ridgway Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Abstract Now and Then, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley
2010
Afterglow: Rethinking California Light and Space Art, Wiegand Gallery, Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, CA
Paper!Awesome!, Baer Ridgway Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA
2009
Sight 09/10, Museolaboratorio ex manifattura tabacchi, Cittá Sant'Angelo, Italy
microwave: seven, Judi Rotenburg Gallery, Boston, MA
My Certain Fate, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA
2008
microwave: six, Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York, NY
Form +, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007
Graphic: New Bay Area Drawing, di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA
2005
Bay Area Bazaar, Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery, Portland, OR
Hairy Bodies, The Lab, San Francisco, CA
2004
Art on Paper 2004, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
2003
Works on Paper, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY
Graphite on Paper, Gallery Joe, Philadelphia, PA
2002
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - New Art from LA, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY
Fast Forward II, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley
Being There: 45 Oakland Artists, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
2001
Different Strokes, Im N Il Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
1999
Invitational Exhibition, Curt Marcus Gallery, New York, NY
1998
Freie Sicht aufs Mittlemeer, Kunsthaus Zürich, Switzerland / Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Six Painters, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
1997
Città Aperta Ed. 1997, IDRIA Cultural Association, Città Sant'Angelo, Italy
Entfernte Bekannte, Foundation Binz39, Zürich, Switzerland
1996
Abstraction Absolved: 10 Bay Area Painters, Mills College Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
1995
Status Report: Seven Years of Artists' Projects, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
1994
Recent Paintings: Robert Davis, Suzann Dunaway, Dean Smith, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
1993
Filler, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
Fresh Paint, TransAmerica Pyramid Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992
Five Painters, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
1991
Buying The Magazine For The Ads, Terrain, San Francisco, CA
Bedford Biennial, Bedford Gallery: Regional Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA
1990
65th Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
A Boar's Head, Nexus Gallery, Berkeley, CA
1989
MFA/UCB/1989, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley
Bay Area M.F.A. Exhibition, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA
1988
M.A. Thesis Exhibition, Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California, Berkeley
PUBLIC FILM/VIDEO SCREENINGS:
2017
My Walks with Bob, Communal Presence: New Narrative Writing Today (screened: aliengnosis: a film in collaboration with Robert Glück), University of California, Berkeley
2013
Thinking Like the Universe (screened: video mandalas III, IV and V), Hatch Gallery, Oakland, CA
2009
Reflections (screened: thought forms), Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
2007
Projections on Lake (screened: labyrinth), City of Pasadena Public Art Programs and Wasserman Real Estate Capitol, LLC, Pasadena, CA
2005
Apocalypse Poof (screened: aliengnosis: a film in collaboration with Robert Glück), The 19th London Lesbian/Gay Film Festival, National Theater, London
2004
Moving Picture Poetics 3: Collaborations, (screened: aliengnosis: a film in collaboration with Robert Glück), San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco Art Institute, CA
2003
Graphic Sonic: Music Made Cinema, (screened: here we are now), San Francisco Cinematheque, San Francisco Art Institute, CA
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
2017
Porges, Maria, Dean Smith: An Appreciation, wordsaboutart.com
2016
Baxter, Jared, The Future Eve, Catalog, Fellows of Contemporary Art
Baxter, Jared, Haunted Formalism, Catalog, VOLUME at Del Vaz Projects
Glück, Robert, "Many Infinities," Communal Nude, Semiotext(e)/Active Agents
2013
Baker, Kenneth, "Cult Objects," San Francisco Chronicle, November 17
Baker, Kenneth, "Space: 1999 at Incline Gallery in S.F.," San Francisco Chronicle, November 1
Geary, Linda, Studio Visit, Edition One
Lutz, Leora, "SFAQ Review: "SPACE: 1999" group exhibition at Incline Gallery, San Francisco," SFAQ, November, 29
2012
Dreishpoon, Douglas, Grachos, Louis, and Pesanti, Heather, “Decade: Contemporary Art Collecting 2002-2012, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Pgs. 309, 338
2011
Fazzolari, Bruno, "Interview with Dean Smith," www.artpractical.com, Issue 2.17
Newhall, Edith, "Infusing useful objects with unexpected identities," The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 17
2010
Berkson, Bill, "Dean Smith in Action," For the Ordinary Artist: Short Reviews, Occasional Pieces & More, BlazeVOX [books]
2009
Berkson, Bill, "Dean Smith in Action," thought forms 2003-2009, Catalog, Gallery Paule Anglim
Buckwalter, Timothy, "Critic's Choice: Art," The East Bay Monthly, v.39, no.7, April
Huston, Johnny Ray, "Dean Smith: thought forms 2003-2009," San Francisco Bay Guardian, v.43, no.31, April 29 - May 5
Thomas, Elizabeth, Matrix/Berkeley: A Changing Exhibition of Contemporary Art, University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
2008
Coburn, Jesse, "microwave, six," Time Out New York, Issue 675, Sept. 4-10
Eshoo, Amy, ed., 560 Broadway: A New York Drawing Collection at Work, 1991-2006, Fifth Floor Foundation/Yale University Press
Rinder, Lawrence, New Exercises, Dhyãna, Form +, Catalog, Meridian Gallery
Zyzzyva, Issue 82, Spring
2007
Hamilton, Roxanne Power, ed., "Screen: A Multiplex, Robert Glück and Dean Smith: aliengnosis,"
Viz. Inter-Arts - Event: A Trans-Genre Anthology
Le Duc, Aimee, "Gay Outlaw and Dean Smith at Gallery Paule Anglim," Artweek, v.38, Issue 1, February
2006
Baker, Kenneth, "Art marked by holes, yet pregnant with meaning," San Francisco Chronicle, December 16
Tanchelev, Gloria, "West Coast Blog," www.stretcher.org, December 12
2005
“Weatherspoon Art Museum...Features Exhibition of Works on Paper," Carolina Arts, January
Helfand, Glen, "Critic's Choice: Hairy Bodies," Artforum.com, February
2004
Emerling, Susan, "Reviews/National - Dean Smith," ARTnews, February
Jana, Reena, "Exhibition Reviews: Dean Smith at Marvelli Gallery," Art on paper, November/December
Johnson, Ken, "Art Guide, Galleries: Chelsea, 'Dean Smith'," The New York Times, September 24
2003
Fallon, Roberta, "Pencil Pushers," Philadelphia Weekly, May 28
Johnson, Ken, "Art Guide, Galleries: Chelsea, 'Works on Paper'," The New York Times, June 27
Ollman, Leah, "Motion, mind and mystery," Los Angeles Times, November 14
Stich, Sidra, art-Sites San Francisco, art-Sites Press
Zyzzyva, vol. XIX, no. 3, Winter
Worman, Alex, "L.A. Confidential," artnet.com, December 2
2002
Bonetti, David, "There is a 'there' at Oakland show," San Francisco Chronicle, March 27
Cash, Stephanie, "Report from San Francisco: Surviving and Thriving," Art in America, November
Consey, Kevin, Dean Smith/MATRIX 201b, black hole sun #3 (x-ray vision), Brochure, Berkeley Art Museum
Helfand, Glen, "Critic's Choice: Barry McGee/Dean Smith," Artforum.com, May
Linhares, Philip, Being There: 45 Oakland Artists, Catalog, Oakland Museum of California
2001
Glück, Robert, "Many Infinities," Dean Smith: Drawings 2001, Catalog, Christopher Grimes Gallery
Youens, Rachel, "Different Strokes @ Im N Il," The Brooklyn Rail, May/June
2000
Knight, Christopher, "Art Reviews: Dean Smith," Los Angeles Times, May 12
1999
Baker, Kenneth, "Sculptures with Delayed Punch Lines," San Francisco Chronicle, February 6
Johnson, Ken, "Art Guide, Galleries: SoHo, 'Invitational Exhibition'" The New York Times, July 2
1998
Documentation 1996/97, Catalog, Foundation Binz39
Freie Sicht aufs Mittlemeer, Catalog, Kunsthaus Zürich/Scalo Verlag
Martino, Adriana, "Spotlight: Cittá Aperta e La Bella Addormentata," Flash Art (Italy Ed.), Dicembre/Gennaio
1997
Cittá Aperta, Catalog, IDRIA Cultural Association
Kraft, Martin, "Im Trüben Sehen," Tages-Anzeiger - Züritip Edition, May 16-22
1996
Bonetti, David, "Return of the Abstract at Mills College," San Francisco Examiner, December 6
Lachowicz, Keith, Abstraction Absolved: 10 Bay Area Painters, Catalog, Mills College
1995
Bonetti, David, "The Year in Review," San Francisco Examiner, December 29
1994
Baker, Kenneth, "Rising Spirits," ARTnews, May
Rapko, John, "Schematization: Abstract Painting at Terrain and Stephen Wirtz Gallery," Artweek, July 21
1992
Roche, Harry, "Critic's Choice: Art," San Francisco Bay Guardian, February 26
1991
Baker, Kenneth, "Perils in Selecting Juried Exhibitions," San Francisco Chronicle, March 30
PUBLIC AND CORPORATE COLLECTIONS:
Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
The Art Institute of Chicago
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
The British Museum
The Capital Group Companies, Inc.
Colette and Erickson, San Francisco
Fidelity Investments
The Hammer Museum
JPMorgan Chase Art Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Microsoft Corporation
Oakland Museum of California
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
The Progressive Corporation
Swiss Re Capital Partners, Inc.
University of California, San Francisco, Mission Bay Campus