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Sable Elyse Smith

{{Short description|American artist (born 1986)}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Sable Elyse Smith

| image =

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| birth_name =

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| birth_date = 1986

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California

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| nationality = American

| known for =

| field = interdisciplinary art

| education = Oglethorpe University, Parsons School of Design

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Sable Elyse Smith (born 1986) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator based in New York.{{Cite web|title=Queens Museum|url=https://queensmuseum.org/2016/12/sable-elyse-smith|access-date=2020-06-16|language=en-US}} Smith works in photography, neon, text, appropriated imagery,{{Cite web|last=Reid|first=Tiana|date=2018-12-13|title=Artist Sable Elyse Smith Was Horrified by a Kids' Coloring Book About the Courts|url=https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/sable-elyse-smith-makes-art-from-a-coloring-book-about-court.html|access-date=2020-06-17|website=Vulture|language=en-us}} sculpture, and video installation connecting language, violence, and pop culture with autobiographical subject matter.{{Cite web|date=2017-11-11|title=An Artist's Bond with Her Imprisoned Father|url=https://hyperallergic.com/410947/sable-elyse-smith-ordinary-violence-queens-museum-2017/|first=Cora|last= Fisher|access-date=2020-06-16|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US}} In 2018, Smith was an Artist-in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem.{{Cite web|title=Studio Museum in Harlem Announces 2018 Artists-in-Residence|url=http://www.culturetype.com/2017/11/10/studio-museum-in-harlem-announces-2018-artists-in-residence/%27|first= Victoria L.|last=Valentine|website=Culture Type |date=2017-11-10|access-date=2020-06-17|language=en-US}} Her work was first featured at several areas such as MoMA ps1, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Philadelphia, MIT list visual arts center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other places.{{Cite web |title=The School of the Arts Welcomes Sable Elyse Smith, Assistant Professor of Visual Arts |url=https://arts.columbia.edu/news/school-arts-welcomes-sable-elyse-smith-assistant-professor-visual-arts |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Columbia - School of the Arts |language=en}} The artist lives and works in Richmond, Virginia, and New York City.{{Cite news|last=Herriman|first=Kat|date=2017-08-22|title=Artist Sable Elyse Smith Takes on the Prison Narrative with New Work|language=en-US|work=Cultured Magazine|url=https://www.culturedmag.com/sable-elyse-smith/|access-date=2020-06-16}} She has been an assistant professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University since 2020.{{Cite web|title=Columbia University|url=https://arts.columbia.edu/profiles/sable-elyse-smith|access-date=2021-04-25|language=en-US}}

Early life and education

Smith was born in 1986{{Cite web |last=Mafi |first=Nick |date=2020-06-16 |title=Young Black Artists Speak About the Role of Art in This Moment |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/young-black-artists-speak-about-role-art-moment |access-date=2020-06-17 |website=Architectural Digest |language=en-us}} in Los Angeles, California. Smith holds a B.A. in studio art and film from Oglethorpe University and a MFA in Design & Technology from Parsons the New School for Design.

Work

Smith often uses surveillance tape to explore the structure of the incarcerated labor system and its corruption.

File:A Clockwork, 2021, Sable Elyse Smith at Whitney 2022.jpg in 2022]]

Smith makes sculptures and two-dimensional works that raise questions about societal problems. Her work is inspired by her father who had been incarcerated for most of her life. Her work uses common objects from the prison system to question labor, class, and memory with emphasis on the everyday effects of institutional violence.{{Cite web|title=MOOD: Studio Museum Artists in Residence 2018–19 {{!}} MoMA|url=https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5086|access-date=2020-06-17|website=The Museum of Modern Art|language=en}} Smith uses coloring books for children used in court setting as a subject in some of her 2D works. Smith has talked about her work stating: “The work should never say the same thing to every viewer. It is multi-vocal in its address and affect—that's the point." She has received several awards from Creative Capital, Fine Arts Work Center, the Queens Museum, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, Rea Hort Mann Foundation, the Franklin Furnace Fund, and Art Matter.

Smith has also made sculptures from furniture designed for the prison system.{{Cite journal|last=McLean|first=Matthew|title=Sable Elyse Smith Responds to the Rigged Logic of the US Criminal Justice System| language=en| journal=frieze| url=https://frieze.com/article/sable-elyse-smith-responds-rigged-logic-us-criminal-justice-system|date=28 January 2020|issue=209 |access-date=20 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128150047/https://www.frieze.com/article/sable-elyse-smith-responds-rigged-logic-us-criminal-justice-system |archive-date=28 January 2020 |url-access=subscription}} Her large-scale sculpture A Clockwork (2021), a motorized rotating ferris wheel made of jet-black tables and chairs designed for prison visitation rooms, was included in Quiet as It's Kept, the 2022 Whitney Biennial.{{cite web |last1=Durón |first1=Maximilíano |title=12 Standouts at the 2022 Whitney Biennial, Where Poetic Reflections on Past Two Years Shine Brightly |url=https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/2022-whitney-biennial-standouts-1234623257/cassandra-press/ |website=ARTnews |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017181935/https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/artists/2022-whitney-biennial-standouts-1234623257/denyse-thomasos-2/ |archive-date=17 October 2022 |date=29 March 2022 |url-status=live}}

Exhibitions

Smith has staged an array of solo shows at galleries and museums in the United States and internationally. Her notable solo shows include Sable Elyse Smith: Blue is Ubiquitous and Forbidden (2015), SOHO20, New York;{{cite web |title=Sable Elyse Smith: Blue is Ubiquitous and Forbidden |url=https://soho20gallery.com/sable-elyse-smith-blue-is-ubiquitous-and-forbidden/ |website=Soho20 Chelsea |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218192711/https://soho20gallery.com/sable-elyse-smith-blue-is-ubiquitous-and-forbidden/ |archive-date=18 December 2022 |url-status=live}} Sable Elyse Smith: Ordinary Violence (2017-2018), Queens Museum, New York;{{cite web |title=Sable Elyse Smith at Queens Museum, New York |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sable-elyse-smith-queens-museum-new-york-9538/ |website=ARTnews |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519054914/https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/sable-elyse-smith-queens-museum-new-york-9538/ |archive-date=19 May 2022 |date=26 December 2017 |url-status=live}} How We Tell Stories to Children (2018), Atlanta Contemporary;{{cite web |title=Sable Elyse Smith |url=https://atlantacontemporary.org/exhibitions/sable-elyse-smith |website=Atlanta Contemporary Art Center |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703105510/https://atlantacontemporary.org/exhibitions/sable-elyse-smith |archive-date=3 July 2022 |url-status=live}} or the song spilling out (2019), Carlos/Ishikawa Gallery, London;{{cite web |title=Sable Elyse Smith at Carlos/Ishikawa |url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/sable-elyse-smith-81416 |website=Artforum |date=27 November 2019 |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218192706/https://www.artforum.com/picks/sable-elyse-smith-81416 |archive-date=18 December 2022 |url-status=live}} and Tithe (2022), JTT Gallery, New York.{{cite magazine |last1=Fateman |first1=Johanna |title=Sable Elyse Smith |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/sable-elyse-smith |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106201239/https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/sable-elyse-smith |archive-date=6 November 2022 |url-status=live}}

She has also participated in a large number of group exhibitions, including the Whitney Biennial (2022);{{cite web |title=2022 Whitney Biennial |url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2022-biennial |website=Whitney |publisher=Whitney Museum |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218192705/https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2022-biennial |archive-date=18 December 2022 |url-status=live}} and the 59th Venice Biennale (2022).{{cite web |title=Sable Elyse Smith |url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022/milk-dreams/sable-elyse-smith |website=LaBiennale |date=5 April 2022 |publisher=Venice Biennale |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218192715/https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022/milk-dreams/sable-elyse-smith |archive-date=18 December 2022 |url-status=live}}

Notable works in public collections

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  • How We Tell Stories to Children (2015), Brooklyn Museum, New York{{cite web |title=How We Tell Stories to Children |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/224866 |website=Brooklyn Museum |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524084211/https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/224866 |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-status=live}}
  • 7655 Days (2017), Whitney Museum, New York{{cite web |title=7665 Days |url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/58443 |website=Whitney |publisher=Whitney Museum |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103071740/https://whitney.org/collection/works/58443 |archive-date=3 November 2020 |url-status=live}}
  • 7665 Nights (2017), Whitney Museum, New York{{cite web |title=7665 Nights |url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/58444 |website=Whitney |publisher=Whitney Museum |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103071727/https://whitney.org/collection/works/58444 |archive-date=3 November 2020 |url-status=live}}
  • Visiting (2017), Brooklyn Museum, New York{{cite web |title=Visiting |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/224713 |website=Brooklyn Museum |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220730185427/https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/224713 |archive-date=30 July 2022 |url-status=live}}
  • Coloring Book 9 (2018), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York{{cite web |title=Coloring Book 9 |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/38631 |website=Guggenheim |publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206015327/https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/38631 |archive-date=6 December 2022 |url-status=live}}
  • 8093 Days (2019), Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York{{cite web |title=8093 Days |url=https://bard.emuseum.com/objects/5921/8093-days? |website=Hessel Museum |publisher=Bard College |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221050257/https://bard.emuseum.com/objects/5921/8093-days? |archive-date=21 December 2022 |url-status=live}}
  • Coloring Book 61 (2020), Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami{{cite web |title=Coloring Book 61 |url=https://icamiami.org/collection/sable-elyse-smith-coloring-book-61-2020-2/ |website=ICAMiami |publisher=Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220526050125/https://icamiami.org/collection/sable-elyse-smith-coloring-book-61-2020-2/ |archive-date=26 May 2022 |url-status=live}}
  • Coloring Book 66 (2020), Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York{{cite web |title=Coloring Book 66 |url=https://bard.emuseum.com/objects/7360/coloring-book-66? |website=Hessel Museum |publisher=Bard College |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221050448/https://bard.emuseum.com/objects/7360/coloring-book-66? |archive-date=21 December 2022 |url-status=live}}
  • Coloring Book 98 (2022), Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York{{cite web |title=Coloring Book 98 |url=https://bard.emuseum.com/objects/7908/coloring-book-98? |website=Hessel Museum |publisher=Bard College |access-date=21 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221221050205/https://bard.emuseum.com/objects/7908/coloring-book-98 |archive-date=21 December 2022 |url-status=live}}

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References

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Category:1986 births

Category:Living people

Category:American interdisciplinary artists

Category:21st-century American artists

Category:Artists from Los Angeles

Category:Oglethorpe University alumni

Category:Parsons School of Design alumni

Category:21st-century American women artists

Category:Columbia University faculty