Catalogue

LIONEL SMIT
Accumulation
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LIONEL SMIT
Accumulation
4–27 July 2013
Centenary
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1913–2013
Little Stars, Big Stars
Recent Work by Lionel Smit
Andrew Lamprecht
But I’ve been walking through the night, and the day
Faces confront us every day in our everyday life: most pass us by, some
eye based on the multiplicity of partial representations that make up the
European archaeologists who first saw them believed that they must
Till my eyes get weary and my head turns grey
become marked in our memories through conversation or engagement
greater body of ‘Accumulation’. In the massive installation Accumulation
be evidence of Greek colonists from the ancient world or even evidence
And sometimes it seems maybe God’s gone away
or repetition, a few loom large through love … or perhaps hate. As the
of Disorder comprising dozens of versions of the same head, each
of the lost city of Atlantis! Blind to the creativity and sophistication
Forgetting the promise that we’ve heard him say
title of the exhibition indicates it is through the gradual accumulation of
uniquely finished by the artist in automotive paint, that we see this
of African artistry, while gazing at these heads, often decorated with
And we’re lost out here in the stars.
faces, whether through different aspects of one or through a variety of
very clearly. Each part of the installation is a unique artwork, worthy of
parallel vertical lines (which are now believed to be aesthetic devices to
Little stars, big stars […]
individual countenances, that we build up a picture – familiarity – of the
individual contemplation. Taken as a whole, the assemblage speaks of
draw attention to the subtlety of the figurative details modelled in the
artist’s intentions. This is no easy one-liner, but requires engagement in
different shades of the same persona, the difference that lies in each
works) the Europeans chose to look at surface and not at the subtle lives
order to come to grips with what Smit is sharing with us, and through
individual depending on circumstances and time. Also, perhaps, this
conveyed by means of sculpture and line.
Faces confront us: some small, some big, a few monumental. Whether
him what his art communicates more broadly. Each work, and in some
work hints at the different routes through life that a person may pass,
gazing at us from painted surfaces, marked by abstract swathes of
cases each part of an installation or ‘accumulation’ of many pieces,
hinting that one person may have differing trajectories dependent on the
Each of Lionel Smit’s works offers us an entry point into the variety
colour underneath the image or on top of it, or in three-dimensional
gradually brings into focus that which lies beneath the surface: an
experiences he or she is are exposed to at any given point.
and richness that lies beneath every face we encounter, whether in
sculptural form, these faces seem to be stoic and reveal few secrets.
engagement with personhood and its dignity.
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Like any immediate engagement with the face of another, however, to
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life, in bronze or in paint. Just as we may gaze up at the stars and see
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seemingly similar points of light, in fact, each one represents a world,
discover what lies beneath may take time and demand attention beyond
The sense of unity conveyed through this accumulation of oftentimes
a galaxy or a cluster of possibility, so far away but also tantalisingly
that of the glance or passing look. We will need to match the gaze and
fragmented or partial portraits is a recurring theme in this exhibition as
In 1938 a group of bronze heads were ‘discovered’ in the Wunmonije
within reach.
explore more deeply if we are to enter into dialogue with Lionel Smit’s
is the tension between abstraction and representation. It is as if Lionel
Compound, near the royal palace of Ife in Nigeria. Dating to the period
1. ‘Lost in the Stars’ (1949) from the musical of the same name composed by Kurt Weill, libretto by
new body of work, ‘Accumulation’.
Smit is demanding from us that we create a holistic image in our mind’s
around 1300 –1500 and strikingly lifelike and very beautiful, the
Maxwell Anderson, based on Alan Paton’s novel Cry, the Beloved Country.
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Hidden 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 150 x 120 cm
Exposure 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 150 x 120 cm
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Ashen #1, Ashen #2, Ashen #3 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen each 190 x 190 x 5 cm
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Reversion 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 230 x 170 x 5 cm
Merge #3 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 120 x 120 x 5 cm
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Hidden Structure 2013 Oil on Canvas 165 x 230 x 5 cm
Hidden Exposure 2013 Oil on Canvas 165 x 230 x 5 cm
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Girl in Pink with Blue Scatter 2013 Oil on Canvas 120 x 120 x 5 cm
Rorscharch #3 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 120 x 150 x 5 cm
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Rorscharch #4
2013 Oil on Canvas 200 x 300 x 5 cm
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Scattered Stare 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 170 x 230 x 5 cm
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Siren Triptych #1, Siren Triptych #2, Siren Triptych #3 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen each 190 x 190 x 5 cm
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Revert 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 190 x 190 x 5 cm
Merge #2 2013 Oil on Belgian Linen 120 x 120 x 5 cm
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Left: Accumulation #1
2012 Bronze on Wooden base 185 x 185 x 18 cm
Right: Large Malay Girl Fragmented
2010 Bronze 120 x 60 x 85 cm AP
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Left: Two-Face 2013 Bronze on Crystal base 21 x 24 x 30 cm edition 4/12
Above: Three-Face 2013 Bronze on Crystal base 22 x 22 x 30 cm edition 3/12
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Broken Submerge
2012 Bronze with Steel base
83 x 35 x 50 cm edition 2/12
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Process Series #1
2012 Bronze
55 x 45 x 30 cm edition 2/12
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Process Series #2
2012 Bronze 90 x 45 x 30 cm edition 2/12
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Monumental Fragment
2013 Bronze 130 x 110 x 250 cm
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Attached
2010 Bronze 54 x 40 x 115 cm
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Small Malay Girl with Holes
2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint
50 cm high edition 6/12
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Submerge
2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint
50 cm high edition 6/12
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Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high AP2
Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high AP1
Crackhead 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 1/12
Crackhead 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 9/12
Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 9/12
Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 4/12
Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 8/12
Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high AP2
Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 1/12
Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 3/12
Small Malay Girl with Lines 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 12/12
Small Malay Girl with Lines 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 4/12
Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 6/12
Broken Submerge 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 2/12
Small Malay Girl with Lines 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 6/12
Small Malay Girl with Lines 2010 Resin hand finished with automotive paint 50 cm high edition 2/12
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Left: Residue Series #1 2012 Polymer photogravure 73 x 53 cm edition 16/30
Centre: Residue Series #2 2012 Polymer photogravure 73 x 53 cm edition 16/30
Right: Residue Series #3 2012 Polymer photogravure 73 x 53 cm edition 16/30
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Lionel Smit
Biography
Lionel Smit was born in Pretoria, South
Africa in 1982, he started developing and
exhibiting straight after art school at Pro Arte
Alphen Park. He now lives and works in Cape
Town. He is best known for his contemporary
portraiture executed through monumental
canvasses and sculptures.
Smit exhibits locally in South Africa where
he is considered one of the countries youngest
investment artists. He is currently exhibiting
and on art fairs in Amsterdam, Germany, India,
Miami, Monaco, London and Hong Kong.
Over the past 10 years he has established
a substantial international following with
collectors ranging from the Standard
Chartered Bank to Laurence Graff Art
Collection at Graff Delaire wine estate.
Smit’s painting has been exhibited at the
National Portrait Gallery, where it was chosen
as the ‘face’ of the BP Portrait Award 2013.
He was recently honoured with a Ministerial
Award from the Department of Culture for
Visual Art and a highlight of his career has
been the publication of one of his paintings on
the cover of Christie’s Auction Catalogue.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013
Accumulation, solo exhibition, Everard Read,
Johannesburg
2012
Compendium, solo exhibition, 34FineArt,
Cape Town
Accumulation of Disorder, solo Exhibition,
University of Stellenbosch Gallery,
Stellenbosch
Strata, solo exhibition, Rook and Raven,
London
2011
Surface, solo exhibition, Artspace,
Johannesburg
Submerge, solo exhibition, 34FineArt,
Cape Town
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2009
Relate, solo exhibition, Grande Provence,
Franschhoek
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
BP Portrait Award Exhibition, National Portrait
Gallery, London
Wonder Works Group Exhibition,
The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
Affordable Art Fair, Hong Kong
Art13 London Art Fair, London
2012
Winter Exhibition, Everard Read,
Johannesburg
Robert Bowman Gallery, India Art Fair, India
Jhb Art Fair, Everard Read, Johannesburg
2011
34FineArt, ArtMonaco ‘11, Monaco
2010
Cynthia Reeves Projects, group exhibition,
Art Miami, USA
We are not Witches, group exhibition, Saatchi
Gallery, London
Out of the Office, group exhibition,
Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany
2009
F.A.C.E.T., Charity Auction, Christie’s, London
Group 09, group exhibition, 34FineArt,
Cape Town
Gesprek, group exhibition, University of
Stellenbosch Gallery, Stellenbosch
2008
Reflections, group exhibition,
Rust-en-Vrede, Durbanville
Day Dream, two man show with Jaco Benade,
Magpie Gallery, Centurion
Rendezvous – focus wearable art, Fada Art
Gallery, Johannesburg
Reflect/Refuel, group exhibition, Association
of Arts, Pretoria
Twenty Artists/Twenty Portraits, UCA Gallery,
Cape Town
QUALIFICATIONS AND AWARDS
2013 Ministerial Award from Department of
Art and Culture for Visual Art,
Western Cape Government
2009 Merit Award, Vuleka, Sanlam Art
Competition, Cape Town
2008 Achievement Award, Pro Arte School
of Arts
2000 First prize in the MTN Art Colours
Awards of Gauteng
1999/2000 Best painting student Pro Arte
School of Arts
CATALOGUES
Surface, Artspace, October 2011
Out of the Office, Kunstmuseum Bochum,
Germany 2010
We are not Witches, Saatchi Gallery,
October 2010
Submerge, Lionel Smit, 34FineArt,
October 2010
Christie’s, F.A.C.E.T (catalogue cover),
October 2009
Residue, Grande Provence Gallery,
October 2009
Group Therapy, Sandton Civic Gallery, 2005
Pretoria, Everard Read Gallery,
November 2004
COLLECTIONS
Johann Jacobs Museum
Standard Chartered Bank.
Ellerman Contemporary
Laurence Graff Collection
Rand Merchant Bank
European Investment Bank
Johannesburg City Council
Saronsberg Wine Estate
Delaire Graff Wine Estate
South African Embassy,
Nigeria Parkdev
Various private and corporate collections
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Lionel Smit would like to thank:
His team at the studio who helped to make this exhibition possible
Veronica, José, Adriaan, Monique, Francois and Stephen.
His father Anton for always Inspiring him to follow his dreams.
His mother Erica for all the support she has given him throughout his career
A special thanks to Delaire Graff Estate and Laurence Graff.
Left
Accumulation #1
2012 Bronze on Wooden base 185 x 185 x 18 cm (detail)
Front cover
Siren Triptych #2
2013 Oil on Belgian Linen each 190 x 190 x 5 cm (detail)
Inside front cover
Large Malay Girl Fragmented
2012 Bronze 120 x 60 x 85 cm
Back cover
Siren Triptych #1, Siren Triptych #2, Siren Triptych #3
2013 Oil on Belgian Linen each 190 x 190 x 5 cm
Inside back cover
Collection
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This exhibition catalogue is published
in conjunction with the exhibition
Lionel Smit: Accumulation
at Everard Read, Johannesburg
4 –27 July 2013
Published in 2013 by Everard Read,
6 Jellicoe Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg
Copyright © Everard Read
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without prior permission from the publishers.
ISBN 978-0-9870210-7-6
Photography by José Ventura and Anthea Pokroy
Designed by Kevin Shenton
Printed by Ultra Litho (Pty) Limited, Johannesburg
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ISBN 978-0-9870210-7-6
6 Jellicoe Avenue Rosebank Johannesburg 2196 South Africa
Centenary
1913–2013
Tel: + 27 11 788 4805 www.everard-read.co.za [email protected]
9 780987 021076