Lionel Smit


Lionel Smit is a South African artist, known for his contemporary portraiture executed through large canvases and sculptures.
Smit lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa, but is also represented internationally in London. His work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London where it received the Viewer's Choice Award, He received a Ministerial Award from the South African Department of Culture in 2013 for Visual Art.

History

Born in 1982 in Pretoria, South Africa, Smit was exposed to sculpture through his father Anton Smit, who worked from his studio adjacent to the family home. This studio played a central role in Lionel's upbringing. By age twelve, Smit was already working in clay and considered himself primarily as a sculptor. At sixteen his parents separated, after which Lionel, a student at Pretoria's Pro Arte School of Arts at the time, began to use the empty studio space his father occupied for painting.

Work and subject matter

Lionel Smit's art is defined by a relationship between sculpture and painting.
Smit is based in Strand, South Africa. He has achieved international success including sell-out exhibitions in London and Hong Kong.

Local acclaim

Lionel Smit has also enjoyed success in his home country of South Africa, where his work has featured in local publications such as Elle South Africa and Elle Decoration.

Qualifications and awards

Selected exhibitions

2015
  • Close/Perspective, solo exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg
  • Origins, solo exhibition, Rook & Raven, London
  • Obscura, solo exhibition, Everard Read, Cape Town
  • Art Central Art Fair, featured artist, Rook & Raven Gallery, Hong Kong
  • Accumulation of Disorder, installation, Independent Art Projects, MASS MoCA Campus, USA
2014
  • Art Taipei, The Cat Street Gallery, Taiwan
  • Contronym, solo exhibition, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
  • Morphous, solo exhibition and installation, Circa, Johannesburg
  • Cumulus, solo exhibition, Rook & Raven, London
  • Fugitive Identity, group exhibition, Cynthia Reeves, USA
2013
  • Art Miami Fair, featured artist, Cynthia Reeves, Miami
  • IS Sculpture, solo exhibition, IsArt, Tokara, Stellenbosch
  • Strarta Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, Rook & Raven, London
  • Fragmented, solo exhibition, Rook & Raven, London
  • Accumulation, solo exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg
  • BP Portrait Award Exhibition, Viewers' Choice Award, National Portrait Gallery, London
  • Wonder Works Exhibition, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong
  • Metal Work Public sculpture, Stellenbosch
2012
  • Compendium, solo exhibition, 34FineArt, Cape Town
  • Accumulation of Disorder, installation, University of Stellenbosch Gallery, Stellenbosch
  • Strata, solo exhibition, Rook and Raven, London
  • Robert Bowman Gallery, India Art Fair, India
  • Jhb Art Fair, Everard Read
2011
  • Surface, solo exhibition, Artspace, Johannesburg
  • 34FineArt, ArtMonaco ‘11, Monaco
2010
2009
  • F.A.C.E.T., Charity Auction, Christie's, London
  • Relate, solo exhibition, Grande Provence, Franschhoek

Catalogues

  • Cumulus LIONEL SMIT, Rook & Raven, London 2014
  • Formulation LIONEL SMIT, Tokara, Stellenbosch 2013
  • Accumulation LIONEL SMIT, Everard Read, Johannesburg 2013
  • Strata LIONEL SMIT, Rook & Raven, London, 2012
  • Surface LIONEL SMIT, Artspace, Johannesburg 2011
  • We are not Witches, Saatchi Gallery, London 2011
  • Submerge LIONEL SMIT, 34FineArt, October 2010
  • Christie's, F.A.C.E.T, October 2009
  • Residue, Grande Provence Gallery, October 2009
  • Group therapy, Sandton Civic Gallery, 2005
  • Pretoria, Everard Read Gallery, November 2004

Selected collections