Sable Elyse Smith (born 1986) is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and educator based in New York. Smith works in photography, neon, text, appropriated imagery, sculpture, and video installation connecting language, violence, and pop culture with autobiographical subject matter. In 2018, Smith was an Artist-in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. 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. The artist lives and works in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, and New York City. She has been an assistant professor of Visual Arts at Columbia University since 2020.

Early life and education

Smith was born in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. Smith holds a B.A. in studio art and film from

Oglethorpe University Oglethorpe University is a private college in Brookhaven, Georgia. It was chartered in 1835 and named in honor of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Colony of Georgia. History Oglethorpe University was chartered in 1834 in Mi ...

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 its corruption. Smith makes sculptures and two-dimensional works that raise questions about societal problems. Her work is inspired by her father who 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. 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 Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise devoted to encouraging the growth and development of emerging visual artists and writers through residency programs, to the propagation of aesthetic values and experience, and to the restoratio ...

, 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. 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 The 2022 Whitney Biennial, titled ''Quiet as It's Kept'', is the Whitney Museum's art biennial, hosted between April and September 2022. Described by Artnews as the "most closely watched contemporary art exhibition in the United States", the b ...

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 New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

; ''Sable Elyse Smith: Ordinary Violence'' (2017-2018),

Queens Museum The Queens Museum, formerly the Queens Museum of Art, is an art museum and educational center located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in the borough of Queens in New York City, United States. The museum was founded in 1972, and has among its p ...

, New York; ''How We Tell Stories to Children'' (2018), Atlanta Contemporary; ''or the song spilling out'' (2019), Carlos/Ishikawa Gallery,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

; and ''Tithe'' (2022), JTT Gallery, New York. She has also participated in a large number of group exhibitions, including the

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

(2022); and the 59th Venice Biennale (2022).

Notable works in public collections

*''How We Tell Stories to Children'' (2015),

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown ...

*''7655 Days'' (2017),

Whitney Museum The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude ...

, New York *''7665 Nights'' (2017), Whitney Museum, New York *''Visiting'' (2017), Brooklyn Museum, New York *''Coloring Book 9'' (2018),

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

, New York *''8093 Days'' (2019),

Hessel Museum of Art The CCS Hessel Museum of Art is an art museum located on the campus of Bard College, in Annandale-On-Hudson, New York. The museum was built in 2006. The Hessel Museum is housed in the Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS). The Museum draws from t ...

, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York *''Coloring Book 61'' (2020),

Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

*''Coloring Book 66'' (2020), Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York *''Coloring Book 98'' (2022), Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sable 1986 births Living people American interdisciplinary artists 21st-century American artists Artists from Los Angeles Oglethorpe University alumni Parsons School of Design alumni 21st-century American women artists Columbia University faculty