Josh Smith: Abstraction
Interview with the artist by Sophie Aschauer
The work of American artist Josh Smith focuses on themes authenticity and authorship. His paintings, collages, artist books and installations encircle the central myths of modern painting, and connect subjectivities to the exterior world. Josh Smith first became known for his “Name Paintings”, in which his everyman name functions as a pictorial motif for variations—of the painting and signature in one.
Publisher: Holzwarth Publications
Artists: Josh Smith
Publication Date: 2007
Binding: Three softcover volumes in slipcase
Dimensions: 10 3/4 x 9 1/2 in | 27.5 x 34 cm
Pages: 128, 120, and 32
Reproductions: 142 color
ISBN: 9783935567442
Retail: $55
Status: Not Available
Josh Smith
Josh Smith is a New York-based painter who also works with collage, sculpture, printmaking, and 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 process of experimentation and refinement—upending the conventions of painting while simultaneously commanding a deep awareness of its history.
