Stele

Richard Smith
Medium:
Oil on Canvas, 2019
Dimensions:
120cm x 110cm
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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