Gemma Smith’s work takes the form of both painting and sculpture. Through her explorations of colour theory, pictorial depth and sculptural form, Smith has developed a body of abstract work that both playfully and seriously investigates the shifting pictorial plane.
Gemma Smith
Her early work was based on abstract paintings of crystalline forms exploring geometric and spatial possibilities in jewel-like colours. She explored these forms three-dimensionally in her Adaptables sculptures. Recent paintings have departed from precise geometries and exact their complex colour-play from a combination of spontaneous painterly gesture and hard-edge colour-blocking that tangle and weave together to create intriguing spatial incongruities.
Gemma Smith studied at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, between 1997 and 1999; and in 2004 at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.
Since 2000, Smith’s work has featured in more than 100 exhibitions. Notable among them are: Rhythm Sequence, UNSW Galleries, Sydney, 2019; Superposition of three types, Artspace, Sydney, 2017; Painting. More Painting, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 2016; Pittsburgh Biennial, Pittsburgh Centre for the Arts, Pittsburgh, 2014; Forcefields, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 2014; Case Study: Gemma Smith Considers the Work of Margo Lewers, Penrith Regional Gallery, Sydney, 2011; Cubism & Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, 2009; Gemma Smith: Entanglement Factor, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne 2009; Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2008; Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney, 2008.
Smith has exhibited regularly with Sarah Cottier Gallery since 2006 and with Milani Gallery, Brisbane since 2008.
Smith’s work is held in museum, corporate and private collections, including those of the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth; Queensland College of Art and Griffith Artworks, Brisbane; Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane; University of Queensland, Brisbane; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; Murdoch University, Perth; Deakin University, Melbourne; Artbank, Sydney; KPMG, Brisbane; Gaden’s Lawyers, Brisbane; QIC, Brisbane; and UBS, Sydney.
Smith has produced several public artworks, including Triple Tangle, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Foyer Commission, 2018; Collision and Improvisation (ceiling), 2012, Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, Brisbane; and Synchro (Peach/Red Oxide), 2010, Brisbane Airport.
Smith was born in Sydney and based there until 2004; in Brisbane from 2004 to 2012; and in Pittsburgh, United States, from 2012 to 2014. She currently lives and works in Sydney.
Education
2004
- Bachelor Visual Arts, Honours, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
1999
- Bachelor Visual Arts, Painting Studio, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Sydney
Solo Exhibitions
2023
- On, off, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2021
- Open Forever, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- Ticks and Tones, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2020
- Noon, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2019
- Gemma Smith: Rhythm Sequence; UNSW Galleries, Sydney; QUT Art Museum, Brisbane
2018
- Goldens, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2017
- Radiant Greige, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Paintings, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2015
- Adjacent Possible, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Weight and Waver, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2014
- PA Paintings, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2013
- Gemma Smith, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2011
- Tangle Paintings, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Gemma Smith, Turner Gallery, Perth
2010
- Collision and Improvisation, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
- Gemma Smith, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne
- Sudden Double, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2009
- Entanglement Factor, Gertrude Street Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne
2008
- Gemma Smith, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- New Paintings & Sculptures, Milani Gallery, Brisbane
2006
- Gemma Smith, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Paintings and Adaptables, Metro Arts, Brisbane
2004
- Gemma Smith, The Farm Space, Brisbane
2003
- Gemma Smith, MOP Projects, Sydney
2002
- A Texta in the Briefcase, Briefcase Gallery, Sydney
Group Exhibitions
2023
- Living Patterns: Contemporary Australian Abstraction, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane
2022
- Australian Light, The Warrnambool Art Gallery, Warrnambool, Victoria
- Hunky Dory, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2021
- Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now, Part 1, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
2019
- New Woman, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane
2018
- Sydney Contemporary, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2017
- Superposition of three types, Artspace, Sydney
- Primavera at 25: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2016
- Less than: Art & Reductionism, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
- Painting. More Painting, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne
- Another Green World, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2015
- Everything and Nothing, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Quarternary, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane
2014
- Pittsburgh Biennial, Pittsburgh Centre for the Arts, Pittsburgh
- Certain Abstract Things from the Griffith University Art Collection, Griffith University Art Gallery, Brisbane
- The Less there is to see the more important it is to look, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
- 20/200, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Forcefields, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
2013
- Summer, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- 10 Years – 30 Residencies, Turner Galleries, Perth
- Group Show #26, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- AfterPrima PostVera, Australia Council for the Arts, Sydney
- Ten out of 10, MOP Projects, Sydney
2012
- Lightness & Gravity: Contemporary Works from the Collection, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- Deep Space: new acquisitions from the Australian Art Collection, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
- Shifting Geometries, Embassy of Australia, Washington
- Volume One: MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Selected Works, New Acquisitions from the QUT Art Collection, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane New 2011: Selected Recent Acquisitions, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
- Baker’s Dozen, University of Technology Gallery, Sydney Masculin Feminin (part 1), Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2011
- Case Study: Gemma Smith Considers the Work of Margo Lewers, Penrith Regional Gallery, Sydney
- New Psychadelia, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
- Rock Paper Scissors, Deloitte, Sydney
2010
- Crawl 2: Three Moves, Seventh, Melbourne & Boxcopy, Brisbane
- Territorial Pissings, Utopian Slumps, Melbourne
- The Real Thing, Ispwich Art Gallery, Ipswich
- An Oeurve Both Abundant and Diverse, Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney Twenty Twenty, UTS Gallery, Sydney
2009
- Cubism & Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne
- The Shilo Project, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne
- 3d x 5, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery
- MCA Collection: New Acquisitions 2009, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Temperature 2, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane
- Dynamo Hum, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
2008
- SNO 44, SNO, Sydney
- Primavera 2008, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- Repeat That Again, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane
2007
- All is Well that Begins Well and has no End, 80WSE, New York
- Abstraction/ Architecture/ Space, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne
- Lion, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Shoebox, Bell Street Projects, Vienna
2006
- We’re Open, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney
- Against the Amnesiac’s Lifestyle Showroom, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne
- Cones of Zontact, Loose Projects, Sydney
- Eldorado, Downtown, Adelaide
2005
- DEAD FAMOUS; New Australian Painting, Raw Gallery, Berlin
- Top Ten, Gadens Lawyers, Brisbane
- Manya Ginori, Reuben Keehan, Gemma Smith, Peloton Gallery, Sydney
- Nascent, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane
2004
- Paranoid Realism, Blindside, Melbourne
- Two for One, Two, MOP Projects, Sydney
- Out of the Blue, MOP Projects, Sydney
- New Drawing: The Line Fell off the Page, UTS Gallery, Sydney
- Painting, Virginia Wilson Fine Art, Sydney
2003
- MOPLOG, Mop Projects, Sydney
- MOP, inaugural exhibition, MOP Projects, Sydney
2002
- Vicky Brown, Jorge Hubman, Robert Pulie, Gemma Smith, Block Gallery, Sydney
- Tracing, Briefcase Gallery, Sydney
- Jason Markou, Nuha Saad, Gemma Smith, Penthouse and Pavement Gallery, Melbourne
- Stitching: an Artisan Approach, RMIT Project Space, Melbourne
2001
- Advent: An exhibition in 24 parts, Scotts Church, Sydney
- Big Bang 4, Ron and George Adams, Manya Ginori, Elizabeth Pulie, Reuben Keehan and Gemma Smith, Block Gallery, Sydney
- Something for the Ladies, Penthouse and Pavement Gallery, Melbourne
- Life continues to be free and easy..., Manya Ginori, Reuben Keehan, and Gemma Smith, Imperial Slacks Gallery, Sydney
- Suspended, First Draft Gallery and Australia Council for the Arts, Sydney
- blue lotus section, Tin Sheds Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney
2000
- Modulations, Newspace, Sydney
- the blue lotus section, group exhibition, Joes Gallery, Sydney
- art as art..., Newcastle Emerging Artists Space, Newcastle
1999
- art as art..., Newspace, Sydney
- Gemma Smith and Philip Williams, Gallery 19, Sydney
- Classy, Gallery 132, Sydney
1998
- Everyday Episode, Gallery 132, Sydney
Awards and Grants
2018
- Foyer Wall Commission, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2013
- New Work Grant (Mid Career), Australia Council for the Arts
2011
- Turner Galleries, Artist in Residence, Perth
2009
- Clayton Utz Travelling Scholarship
- Project Grant, Arts Queensland
2008
- Moya Dyring Studio (Art Gallery of New South Wales), Cite Internationale des arts, Paris
2006
- New Work Grant (Emerging), Australia Council for the Arts
- Project Grant, Arts Queensland
2005
- Metro Arts – NBC Capital Scholarship (2006)
- Dame Joan Sutherland Fund Grant, American Australian Association
- NAVA Visual Arts and Crafts Grant
- Project Grant, Individual Professional Development, Arts Queensland
1997
- University of Sydney Alumni Scholarship, awarded for duration of degree
- Chroma Art Prize, Sydney College of the Arts
Selected Bibliography
- Younger, J, exhibition catalogue, The Art of the Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law Brisbane, 2013
- NEWv2, exhibition Catalogue, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, Brisbane , 2012
- Case Study: Gemma Smith Considers the Work of Margo Lewis, Exhibition catalogue, Penrith Regional Gallery, 2011
- Pennings, M, Gemma Smith and the Intuitive Abstract, Eyeline #72, August 2010
- Gibson, P, Australian Art Review, August 2010
- NEW08 Exhibition Catalogue, University Art Museum, University of Queensland, 2009
- Cubism & Australian Art, Catalogue, Heide Museum of Modern Art, 2009
- Entanglement Factor - Catalogue, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, 2009
- Hetherington, S, New Work: Gemma Smith, Art World, October 2008
- Optimism, Contemporary Australia, Catalogue, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2008
- Primavera Catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2008
- Crimmings, (Producer), Queensland Painting Now, Sunday Arts, ABC, November 4 2007
- Kubler, A, Queensland Painters: The New Breed, Art and Australia, August 2007
- Betay, B, in living colour, Vogue Living Australia, May-June 2007
- Smee, S, Between lines and layers of paint, The Australian, 14 December 2006
- Smee, S, Effusions of Colour, The Australian, 23 September 2006
- Markou, J, exhibition catalogue, Paintings and Adaptables, Metro Arts, Brisbane
- Glass, A, and Kahn, J, exhibition catalogue, Against the Amnesiac’s Lifestyle Showroom, Gertrude
- Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, August 2006
- Milani, J, Gemma Smith, exhibition catalogue, The Farm Space, November 2004
- Two for One, Two, exhibition catalogue, MOP Projects, November 2004
- Keehan, R, Out of the Blue, exhibition review, Local Art # 16, October 2004
- D’Cruz-Noble, T and Goh, E, exhibition catalogue, New Drawing: The Line Fell off the Page, University of
- Technology Gallery, Sydney, June 2004
- Fortesque, E, Hidden Talents, Daily Telegraph, 19 June, 2001
- Victoria, H, Critic's Pick, Sydney Morning Herald, 13 July, 2000
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
- Artbank, Sydney
- Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
- Queensland Art Gallery, Sydney
- Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
- Deakin University, Victoria
- Murdoch University, Perth
- University of Queensland, Brisbane
- Queensland College of Art + Griffith Artworks, Brisbane
- Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne
- Gadens Lawyers, Brisbane
- QIC, Brisbane
- UBS, Sydney
- KPMG, Brisbane
- NBC Capital, Brisbane
- McCullough Robinson, Brisbane
Public Art Projects
2013
- Collaboration with the Spinifex Group for Vivid Sydney, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2012
- Collision and Improvisation (ceiling artwork), Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, Brisbane.
- Architect: Architectus, Consulting Curator: Jay Younger, with Project Services - Department of
- Housing and Public Works, and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, Project
- Management: with Cracknell and Lonergan.
2010
- Synchro Adaptable (Red Oxide/Peach), Brisbane Airport, Brisbane. Project Manager and fabricator: UAP.
2009
- Chessboard Painting #15 and Chessboard Painting #14, 400 George, Brisbane. Architect: Cox
- Rayner, Consulting Curator and art project Manager: Jacqueline Armistead, partners: Leighton
- Properties and Grosvener Australia, Builder: Theiss Australia.
2007
- Glass lift and corresponding list shaft/ glass wall work, 333 Ann Street, Brisbane. Project
- Manager: Romy Willing, Architect: ML Design, partners: Devine Limited and Artworkers Alliance.
2006
- Around Around, McK17 Public Art Project, McKell Building, Government Architects Office, Sydney
Other Projects
2011
- Rittenhouse x Gemma Smith, Sydney
2009
- Apres Record Covers, Future Classic, Sydney
- Kids: Contemporary Australia: Creating Projects for Children - Artists Perspectives, Conference: Art is for everyone: Programming for children and families in the art museum. Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2008
- Scarf Edition, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
- The Rug Project, Designer Rugs, Sydney
2007
- Look Out Teacher Program: Howard Arkley, workshop and artist talk for teachers, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2004
- The Running Man, Local Art #11, cover image, May 2004
2003
- Terrace Flats, The Material, centre image collaboration, Local Art #4, June 2003
