Stephen Smith (b. 1975, Lives and works in London, UK) work ranges from paintings, collage, small and large-scale wall drawings, mixed media sculpture, animation and site specific installation. His work is characterised by his studio work and larger site-specific installations. He has presented his work internationally at galleries that include the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in the UK and the Nam June Paik Centre in South Korea. Both the Arts Council of England and The British Council have supported his work. He is the founder Neasden Control Centre.
Statement
I am particularly interested in the shape, form and nature of mixed material within process and time and how this language informs visual communication. I am examining the aesthetic forms of images, texts and drawings that exist through combining materials within the composition. A language that is built up over time and which is often re-worked, by doing so, new contexts and meanings are formed.
The materials I use, either found or manipulated, go through various stages of construction and deconstruction before either by unintentional chance or informed by the process, a decision is made and a direction formed. I am constantly investigating how these processes express a constant state of flux.
Solo Exhibitions
2010 More With Less, Mu, Eindhoven, Holland
2008 Take Away, Calm and Punk Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2007 Capital Stupid, Permanent Gallery, Brighton, UK
Little Land, Helium Cowboy, Hamburg, Germany
2006 Terricola, Mercado Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
Bar Leandro, Heliumcowboy Artspace, Hamburg, Germany
Pass Kontrolle, Analogue Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
2003 NCC, Filesharing Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Neasden Control Centre, Magma Gallery, London, UK
Group Exhibitions - Selected
2010 Guerrero Gallery, Co Curated by Eddie Martinez, San Francisco
2009 Das Herz Von St Pauli, Iguapop Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
2008 Now Jump, Nam June Paik Center, Seoul, South Korea
Gestalten, Essenhiemer Kunstforum, Germany
Artrek, Galerie Mekanik, Antwerp, Germany
5 Year Show, Helium Cowboy, Hamburg, Germany
Scope Art Fair, Basel, Basel, Switzerland
No New Enemies, Nuits des Botaniques, La Botanique, Brussels, Belgium
2007 Scope Art Fair, NYC, Miami, Basel, with Helium Cowboy
Animal, Plutonic, Profane, Mr Ego, Brussels, Belgium
2006 Spank The Monkey, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
Season’s Greetings, Iguapop Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
Ding Dong Festival, Hamburg, Germany
2005 Hidden Track, Gibaud Soho, NYC, U.S.A
Smith and Ford, Polished T Gallery, Liverpool, UK
2004 Place Project, Museu d’Art Contemporani De Barcelona MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
Pictoplasma 1st International Conference, Berlin, Germany
2003 Crossed - New Territories of Avant Garde, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain
Modart Europe, Munich, Germany
Publications
2007 Lost Control, Stephen Smith / Neasden Control Centre, Gestalten
2006 Smithfield Building, Stephen Smith / Neasden Control Centre, Rojo
2003 Neasden Control Centre, Gestalten