Alexis Smith, the renowned Los Angeles artist whose work dissected the illusions of Hollywood and celebrity culture, has passed away at the age of 74. Garth Greenan Gallery, which represents her in New York City, confirmed the news of her death.
Born in Los Angeles in 1949, Smith was a central figure of the city’s art scene, known for her sharp and often humorous collages that peeled back the glitzy facade of Hollywood. Her art, which included installation and conceptual pieces, too, incorporated found objects often bridged the gaps between Conceptualism and the Pictures Generation.
Different Strokes, 2011
Alexis Smith
Garth Greenan Gallery
Throughout her life, Smith spoke about her art in accessible terms, underscored by her attention to “normal things” of 20th-century life.
One of her most famous works, Same Old Paradise (1987), was a 62-foot-long painting initially commissioned for the Brooklyn Museum. The painting depicts a grove bisected by a road morphing into a snake, a sinister take on the American Dream.
Smith’s career, which began in the 1970s, saw her navigating and challenging the male-dominated Los Angeles art scene. Despite facing alienation, she gained recognition and support, leading to solo exhibitions at major galleries and participation in influential shows like the Whitney Biennial in 1991.
Over the last three decades, Smith produced several public art pieces, including the terrazzo floors at the Los Angeles Convention Center or the University of California San Diego, as a work entitled Snake Path (1992)—a walkway winding 560 feet near the campus library. Her 2007 survey presented by MOCA LA, “WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution,” traveled to MoMA PS1 and the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/MHCeqLx
No comments:
Post a Comment