Flatly painted images, often symmetrical and at times collaged, show two mirrored figures, heads or other more amorphous semi-abstract shapes that embody a state of duality and call into question the stability of identity, while simultaneously evoking stability through that same use of repetition. Her characters embody multiple states of being as manifestations of hybridity and duality, that simultaneously challenge heteronormative gender roles, allude to a divided self, and underscore the complex realities of humanity.

Smith has written that “Humor and a dark probing of social issues are filtered through my own mythology: a cast of characters, symbols and landscapes that have developed in my work over the past five years. In this work, I use the language of print and paint media, as a conceptual and technical approach to investigate provisional themes of hybrid identities, domesticity, sexuality, time and space.”

Biography

Smith earned her BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University, her MA in Art Education from New York University, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from Parsons School of Design, New York. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Queens Museum/Jerome Foundation Fellowship, a Pollock-Krasner Grant, the Virginia A. Myers Fellowship at the University of Iowa, and the Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship (2013 – 2015). She has been awarded residencies at MacDowell, Bemis, Yaddo, the LMCC Process Space, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. From 2016-18, Smith was co-organizer of a collective, Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter (BWA for BLM) that mounted artistic interventions at the New Museum, Brooklyn Museum and Project Row Houses. Smith is currently the Head of Painting at the Royal College of Art in London.

Alexandria Smith is a mixed media visual artist based in Brooklyn and Wellesley, MA. She earned her BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University, MA in Art Education from New York University, and MFA in Painting and Drawing from Parsons The New School for Design. Smith is the recipient of numerous awards including: the Queens Museum/Jerome Foundation Fellowship (2018/19), a Pollock-Krasner Grant, the Virginia A. Myers Fellowship at the University of Iowa and the Fine Arts Work Center Fellowship from 2013 – 2015. She has been awarded residencies at MacDowell, Bemis, Yaddo, the LMCC Process Space Residency and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. From 2016-18, Smith was also co-organizer of the collective, Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter (BWA for BLM) who mounted artistic interventions at the New Museum, Brooklyn Museum and Project Row Houses.

Smith’s recent exhibitions include: her first solo museum exhibition, “Monuments to an Effigy” at the Queens Museum in April – August 2019 and a solo exhibition “In Praise of Shadows” on view now through November 23 in NYC at Anna Zorina Gallery.

Website

www.alexandriasmith.com

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