FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Josh Smith
December 1, 2006 – January 6, 2007
Opening reception for the artist: Friday, December 1, 2006

Skestos Gabriele Gallery is pleased to present a selection of new paintings and collages by Josh Smith. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in Chicago. Originally from Tennessee, Smith studied painting and printmaking at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and at the University of Tennessee. He currently lives in New York.

Smith is best known for using his name as the structural framework around which he constructs his compositions. Early in his career, the artist began using his name as the subject, as a way to focus on the technical aspects of printmaking. Asserting his name as the representational element in his paintings, Smith explores the practice of painting without having to concentrate on subject matter.

Printmaking and the repeated image continue to be present in the artist’s production. By incorporating the silk-screened image within the painting, he alters the formal balance of the composition while pushing the traditional boundaries of what defines painting. In his collage paintings, Smith randomly selects and assembles found printed matter, including newspaper articles, past exhibition announcements, and other discarded papers to create compositions that are multi-layered and abundant with information, but without specific meaning. By overlaying the collages with black paint and silk-screened text, the artist purposefully censors and disrupts any order that might be perceived in the composition.

The artist’s paintings, collages, prints and books have been exhibited throughout the world, including the Kunsthalle Zurich, the Serpentine Gallery in London, and PS 1 in New York.

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 11:00am – 6:00 pm, Saturday, 12:00 – 5:00pm. For more information please contact the gallery at 312.243.1112 or info@skestosgabriele.com.