ABOUT RICHARD SMITH

Richard Smith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland but moved with his family to South Africa at a young age. Studying graphic design at the Johannesburg School of Art in the 1960s, followed by his work in 1968 for the Sunday Times, Smith produced politically important works for the underground movement in London. In 1977 he was the American Broadcasting Corporation’s Court Artist at the inquest into the death of Steve Biko. Smith’s fine art career began in 1972 with a solo show of drawings at the Arts Theatre Club, London.

He began painting in the mid-1980s and exhibited extensively at the Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg primarily as a painter of abstract expressionist landscapes. In 1990, while a resident at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, Smith began making figurative oil on paper works, some of which were torn up and re-worked as collage elements.

Smith is an artist’s artist. He has a unique voice where the act of painting is foremost whilst form and content are secondary. Although his finished works are richly layered, he wants, in his own words, ‘the brush to spend as little time as possible on the canvas.’ A fearsome self-critic, Smith’s paintings can sometimes take months, even years, to appear but there still is no guarantee that they will make the final cut. This, however, does not deter him in his slavish attention to detail and his desire to paint.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2017    GHOST IN THE MACHINE, EBONY/CURATED CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2016    FACELESS, EBONY/CURATED FRANSCHHOEK, SOUTH AFRICA

2015    NEW PAINTINGS EBONY/CURATED CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2014    RAPID EYE MOVEMENT, EBONY/CURATED, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2014    LIZAMORE AND ASSOCIATES, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2012    RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN, IRMA STERN MUSEUM CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2012    ARTSPACE, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2010    ARTSPACE JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2008    ARTSPACE, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2009    IART CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2007    ARTSPACE, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2007    EXHIBITION – POTCHEFSTROOM UNIVERSITY GALLERY, POTCHEFSTROOM, SOUTH AFRICA

2006    CULTIVARIA, PAARL, SOUTH AFRICA

2005    ‘DIALOGUES’ – CONSTITUTION HILL, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2003   JILL YAKAS GALLERY, ATHENS, GREECE

1993 – 1994 EVERARD READ GALLERY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

1991    SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF ARTS, PRETORIA (PARIS WORK), SOUTH AFRICA

1988    EVERARD READ GALLERY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

1972    SOLO SHOW OF CARTOONS – ARTS THEATRE CLUB, LEICESTER SQUARE, UK

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019    ‘A SMALLER SCALE’, EBONY/CURATED, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2019    INVESTEC CAPE TOWN ART FAIR, EBONY/CURATED, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2017    ‘FROM THE HORSES MOUTH’, EBONY/CURATED, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2017    ED CROSS FINE ART, LONDON ART FAIR, LONDON, UK

2016    ‘PROJECTS’, EBONY/CURATED, FRANSCHHOEK, SOUTH AFRICA

2016    SAADA ART FAIR, EBONY/CURATED, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2015    SAADA ART FAIR, EBONY/CURATED, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2014    CAPE TOWN ART FAIR, EBONY/CURATED, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2014    CAROL LEE FINE ART, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2011    ROSE KORBER ART SALON, CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2010    MIELE ART GALLERY JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

2010    GRAND PROVENCE FRANSCHHOEK, SOUTH AFRICA

2009   GRAND PROVENCE, FRANSCHHOEK, SOUTH AFRICA

2009    ROSE KORBER ART SALON, CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2009    WORK CHOSEN FOR THE SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

2008    MUSE ’08 – GROUP SHOW KKNK OUDTSHOORN, SOUTH AFRICA

2008    IART CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2008    ROSE KORBER ART SALON, CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2007    ROSE KORBER ART SALON, CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2007    BELL ROBERTS, LOURENSFORD, SOMERSET WEST, SOUTH AFRICA

2007    CULTIVARIA, PAARL, SOUTH AFRICA

2007    KKNK, OUDTSHOORN, SOUTH AFRICA

2007    COMMISSION – 6 WORKS FOR RAND MERCHANT BANK

2006    ROSE KORBER ART SALON, CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2006    ‘PORTRAITS’ AT AVA, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2005    ROSE KORBER ART SALON, CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

2002    OMMA CENTRE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, CHANIA, CRETE

2001    EVERARD READ GALLERY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

1995 -2000 REPRESENTED BY EVERARD READ GALLERY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA AND GALLERI VIKTORIA, GOTTENBURG, SWEDEN

1990-1991 RESIDENT AT THE CITÉ INTERNATIONALE DES ARTS, PARIS, FRANCE

1990    LUXTOR’S FINE ART, OXFORDSHIRE, UK

1990    BLACK BOY GALLERY, WEST WYCOMBE, UK

1990   EVERARD READ GALLERY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

1986   EVERARD READ GALLERY WITH PAUL STOPFORTH AND HILLARY GRAHAM, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

1976   SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF ARTS, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

1985   EVERARD READ GALLERY, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

COLLECTIONS

RAND MERCHANT BANK

SASOL

SANLAM

FNB

UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND

UNIVERSITY OF THE FREE STATE

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

PUBLICATIONS

2017   ‘RICHARD SMITH’, PUBLISHED BY EBONY/CURATED

2012   ‘RICHARD SMITH’. PUBLISHED TO COINCIDE WITH IRMA STERN MUSEUM RETROSPECTIVE

2009   ‘WHAT’S SO FUNNY?’ UNDER THE SKIN OF SOUTH AFRICAN CARTOONING BY ANDY MASON

1999   NELSON MANDELA, A LIFE IN CARTOONS

1988   RHODES JOURNALISM REVIEW

1988   DICTIONARY OF SOUTH AFRICAN PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS – EVERARD READ

1982 – 1989 CHIEF ILLUSTRATOR – LEADERSHIP MAGAZINE, JOHANNESBURG

1980/1989 STANDARD BANK CARTOONIST OF THE YEAR AWARD

1985/1988 REPRESENTED ON CAPE TOWN TRIENNIAL

1987   CARTOONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS FOR THE HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW

1977 – 1984 CARTOONIST FOR THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, JOHANNESBURG.

1977 – 1984 ILLUSTRATOR FOR OPTIMA, MANAGEMENT, FINANCIAL MAIL, LEADERSHIP AND ENERGOS

1968 – 1969 CARTOONIST – SUNDAY TIMES, JOHANNESBURG

1973 – 1976 DAILY POLITICAL CARTOON STRIP – RAND DAILY MAIL, JOHANNESBURG

1973 – 1976 PUBLISHED BOOK OF CARTOONS ‘SMITH AND ABBOTT’S GREATEST HITS’

1972 THE CARTOON (A SHORT HISTORY OF GRAPHIC COMEDY AND SATIRE) BY JOHN GEIPEL

1970 – 1972 LONDON, UK FREELANCE CARTOONIST FOR PUNCH, BBC, TIME OUT AND INK, UK