Artist-in-Residence
Ray Smith
IN STUDIO
Friday, September 12, 2008 through
Saturday, September 27, 2008
ON EXHIBIT
Friday, September 12, 2008 through
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Artist-in-Residence
Ray Smith
Painter and sculptor Ray Smith was born in Brownsville, Texas in 1959, on lands that his family had settled in the early 19th century. He studied fresco painting with traditional craftsmen in Mexico, attended art academies in Mexico and the United States, and settled in Mexico City. Since 1985, he has divided his time between New York and Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Smith’s work is characterized by a unique kind of magical realism. He bends, twists, and transplants, creating illogical scenarios that are full of surprises and special effects. The artist often uses dogs and animals as anthropomorphic beings. “They are an entity of the human figure,” says Smith. “They are beasts, but they are directly attached to a blueprint of our own existence.”
Smith’s work has been widely exhibited in the United States and Mexico, as well as in Japan, Europe, and South America. He exhibited in the 1989 Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; the First Triennial of Drawings at the Joan Miro Foundation in Barcelona, Spain; and “Latin American Artists of the 20th Century,” an exhibition that traveled from Seville, Spain to the Musee National d’Art Moderne at the Pompidou Center in Paris, France; the Kunsthalle, Cologne, Germany; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. During the last two decades, Smith has had 50 one-man exhibitions. Smith’s paintings are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art; Brooklyn Museum of Art; and Metropolitan Museum of Art, all in New York City; High Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Houston Museum of Contemporary Art, Texas; Miami Art Museum, Florida; Wurth Museum, Kunzelman, Germany; Centro Cultural de Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City; and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain.
Solo Exhibitions
2008
Rays Mith, Roebling Hall, New York, NY
2003
La Casa de Hielo, Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona, Spain
2002
Wheels and Longarms, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, NY
Ray Smith New Works, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, NY
ARTMATTERS 3 Ray Smith: Recent paintings, Mc Nay Art Museum (Brown Gallery), San Antonio, TX
Catahoula Cur, Babilonia Wilner Foundation, Berkeley, CA
2001
Ray Smith, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Galeria Ramis Barquet, ARCO ‘01, Madrid, Spain
Persianas, Galeria Emma Molina, Monterrey, Mexico
Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Ray Smith, Galeria Trama, Barcelona, Spain
2001
Ray Smith - Aquarellen, Rob Jurka Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Ray Smith - Dog’s Life, Roebling Hall, Brooklyn, NY
Ray Smith, Manuel Ojeda Gallery, Las Palmas, Gran Canarias, Spain
1999
Time and Again, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, NY
Pop Vox, Galeria Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico
Ray Smith, Galeria OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
100 Heads on Paper, Esso Gallery, New York, New York
Argonautica, Galeria Joan Prats, Barcelona, Spain
Argonautica, Timothy Taylor Gallery, London, England
1998
Ray Smith: Recent Paintings, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York
Ray Smith, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
Ray Smith, Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo
Ray Smith, Galleri Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden
1996
Ray Smith, Milleventi, Turin, Italy
Galeria Ramis Barquet, ARCO '96, Madrid, Spain
The Battle of the Tailors, Mario Diacono, Boston, MA
Ray Smith; Portraits of American Writers, Sperone Westwater, New York
1995
Ray Smith, Galleri Lars Bohman, Stockholm, Sweden
Ray Smith; Recent Paintings, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
New Paintings, Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Galeria Ramis Barquet, ARCO, Madrid, Spain
Ray Smith, Ruth Bloom Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1994
Ray Smith, Gian Enzo Sperone, Rome, Italy
Eli Board Family Foundation
1993
Art at the Edge: Ray Smith, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Encounters 4: Ray Smith, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas , TX
Sculptures, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Ray Smith ‘93 Obra Reciente, Ex-Convento de Santa Teresa La Antigua, Mexico City, Mexico
1992
Ray Smith (catalog), Bonnefantemuseum, Maastricht, The Netherlands (traveled to Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Monterrey, Mexico)
New Paintings, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris France
Sculpture, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY
Paraiso, Deleites Terrestres, Infierno, Permanent Installation at Crazy Eights, San Francisco, CA
Ray Smith, Galerie Volker Skulima, Berlin, Germany
Ray Smith, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, NY
New Paintings, Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
1991
Ray Smith, Mario Diacono Gallery, Boston, MA
Ray Smith, Gian Enzo Sperone, Rome, Italy
1990
New Paintings, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Ray Smith: Wind Instruments, Editions Julie Sylvester, New York, NY
Currents: Ray Smith, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Ray Smith, Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Group Exhibitions
2005
Here Comes the Bogey-Man, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY
ARCO 2005, IFEMA, Spain
2004
Mexico Illuminated, Freeman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
Contemporary Tapestries, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, NY
Co-Conspirators: Artist and Collector: The Collection of James Cottrell and Joseph Lovett, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
2003
Mexico: Iluminado, Freedman Gallery, Albright College/Center for the Arts, Reading, PA
Paper, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, NY
2002
Los Excesos De La Mente, Centro Andaluz De Arte Contemporano, Sevilla, Spain
Plotting, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Madion Avenue BID, Where Fashion Meets Art, Fratelli Rosetti, New York, NY
2001
Ray Smith/Tom McKinley, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Amused, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Self-Made Men: Male Self Portraits, D C Moore Gallery, New York, NY
2000
BLUER, Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
1999
Today and Everyday, Galeria Ramis Barquet, New York, NY
Art of the Eighties, The Menil Collection, Houston, TX
The Eye of the Millenium: Art of the Americas, World Bank & Organization of American States, Washington, D.C. (toured to Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina)
1998
Mexico Reconfigured, Associated American Artists, New York, NY
Artistes Latino-Americains, Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France
The Chalkboard Chronicles, TZ Art & Co., New York, NY
1996
Sin fronteras: Arte Latinoamericano Actual, Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela
Narcissim: Artists Reflect Themselves, California Center for the Arts Museum, Escondido, CA
Fantasies of Fate: The New Latin American Magic Realism, Galeria Ramis Barquet & Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
1995
Personal Heroes (part two), Galerie De La Tour, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1994
Thirtieth Annual Exhibition of Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC
Let’s Face It, Galerie Barbara Farber, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Contemporary Loans, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX
American Art Today: Heads Only, The Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, FL
Drawings: Reaffirming the Media, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO; Sperone Westwater Gallery, New York, NY
American Painting Now, Eva Menzio, Turin, Italy
1993
La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience, Centro Cultural de la Raza and Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA (traveled to Centro Cultural Tijuana, Tijuana, MX Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, Scottsdale, AZ, Neuberger Museum, State University of New York, Purchase, NY, San Jose, Museum, San Jose, CA)
Recent Acquisitions, Edward Tyler Nahem Fine Art, New York, NY
The Spirit of Drawing, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY
Drawing the Line Against AIDS, Biennale di Venezia at Amfar International, Venice, Italy
The Return of the Cadavre Exquis, The Drawing Center, New York, NY
1992
Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century (catalog), Estacion Plaza de Armas, Sevilla, Spain (traveled to Musee National d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges, Pompidou, and Hotel Des Arts, Fondation Nationale des Arts, Paris, France, Kunstalle Cologne, Cologne, Germany, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY)
Drawn into the ‘90s, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (traveled to Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL)
Through the Path of Echoes: Contemporary Art in Mexico, University Gallery, Fine Arts Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
1991
Paris 1991, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
Group Sculputure Show, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY
Tema 1492, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
A Passion for Art, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY
Altrove, Fra Immagine de Identita, Fra Indetita e Tradizione, Museo de’Arte Contemporanea, Prato, Italy
Drawings, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
A Dialogue of Images, Galerie Ptefferle, Munich, Germany
Selection’ Oeuvres de la Collection, FAE Musee d’Art Contemporain, Pully/Lausanne, Switzerland
Mito y Magia en America: Los Ochenta, MARCO, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey A. C., Monterrey, Mexico
Displacements: Reconfiguring the Relationship of Image to Identity and Identity to Tradition, The Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain
Reclaiming the Spirit, Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, NY
Personal Portraits, Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
Modern and Contemporary Mexican Masters; Works on Paper, Carla Stellweg Gallery, New York, NY
1990
Spellbound, Mark Richards Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Sperone Westwater Group Exhibition, ARCO ‘90 Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
With the Grain: Contemporary Panel Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, Fairfield, CT
With the Grain: Contemporary Panel Painting, Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York, NY
Salon de Los 16, Museo Espanol De Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid, Spain
Group Exhibition, Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
X Salon de Los 16, Museo Espanol de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid, Spain
Pharmakon ‘90, Nippon Convention Centre, Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan
Group Exhibition, Sperone Westwater, New York, NY
