Josh Smith (b. 1976) is a New York-based painter who also works
with collage, sculpture, printmaking, and artist books. He first
became known in the early 2000s for a series of canvases depicting
his own name, a motif that allowed him to experiment freely with
abstraction and figuration and the expressive possibilities of
painting. His work has since given way to monochromes, gestural
abstractions, and varied imagery, including leaves, fish,
skeletons, sunsets, and palm trees that the artist has explored in
series. Smith's work engages in a celebratory and prolific project
of experimentation and refinement-upending the conventions of
painting while simultaneously commanding a deep awareness of its
history.
A writer and curator based in New York, Bob Nickas has organized
more than 120 exhibitions since 1984. His books include Painting
Abstraction: New Elements in Abstract Painting(2009) and four
collections of his writings and interviews: Live Free or Die
(2000), Theft Is Vision (2007), The Dept. of Corrections (2016),
and Komplaint Dept. (2018). Most recently, he has contributed
essays to Vija Celmins (2018) and Brand New: Art & Commodity in the
1980s (2018). In 2013, Nickas organized Alan Uglow at David
Zwirner, New York, for which he authored the exhibition's
catalogue, and contributed an essay to No Problem: Cologne/New York
1984-1989 (2015), published by David Zwirner Books.
"Despite the artist's steadfast refusal of meaning (or maybe
because of it), his works remain likeable instances of painterly
invention and possibility--even when his subjects spell doom and
gloom."--Joseph R. Wolin "TimeOut"
"Emo Jungle, Josh Smith's inaugural exhibition at David Zwirner
Gallery in New York City, resembles a retrospective in both size
and organization."--Peter Malone "Hyperallergic"
"Josh Smith, the...cavalier of painterly jazz, keeps 'em coming
with well over a hundred fast, loose, hot-colored canvases."--Peter
Schjeldahl "The New Yorker"
"The visual deluge of this terrific if vexatious show meditates on
painting as object, performance, psychic communication, pleasure
and, yes, salable product."--Roberta Smith "The New York Times"
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