Online Exhibition
New Lithographs by Josh Smith

Smith spent February 2024 working at Tamarind Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which he calls a “nexus of lithography in America.” Photo by Brad Trone

Josh Smith, Friend, 2023

Josh Smith, Situation, 2019

Installation view, Josh Smith: Life Drawing, The Drawing Center, New York, 2024. Photo by Daniel Terna
This all-red reaper also recalls two cast-bronze reaper sculptures by Smith, Friend and Little Friend (both 2023), which the artist debuted at Frieze London in 2023.
The new print is additionally distinguished by its unique border treatment, which alludes in part to the artist’s interest in early American decorative wall stencils and the serrated and perforated edges of postage stamps, which signify a kind of self-contained meaning or value.

Smith holds up the mylars used to create the plates for Primary Colors. Photo by Brad Trone

Smith reviews a photo plate for Primary Colors. Photo by Brad Trone
“The cool thing about printmaking is a lot of times the process helps form the idea.”
—Josh Smith

Installation view, Josh Smith: The American Dream, The Brant Foundation Art Study Center, Greenwich, Connecticut, 2011

Photo by Megan Lang

Photo by Megan Lang
This lithograph is part of an ongoing series of paintings and prints that depict Smith’s own name. In this group of works, the letters function as formal motifs and compositional structures for exploring gesture, materiality, and form.
In the paintings from this series, Smith’s name tends to appear highly legible. By contrast, in this print, the letters appear more obscured through Smith's thick application of lithographic crayon on the surface of the lithographic stone, blending medium and message in gestural swipes and daubs.
Josh Smith, Moniker, 2024 (detail)

Smith hangs a proof of Spectrum on the wall of the print studio for review with the Tamarind team. Photo by Brad Trone

Installation view, Josh Smith: Life Drawing, The Drawing Center, New York, 2024. Photo by Daniel Terna
“In college, I focused on printmaking.... Back in school, I would always draw the same thing. For a year, it was ladders. Then I did a face. I have continued to pick stereotypical things, like my name, a fish, or a leaf, and have simply focused on how I could change this image technically.”
—Josh Smith

Photo by Megan Lang

Josh Smith paints his name onto a sheet of mylar using a mixture of copy toner powder, water, and dish soap. The image he created was then exposed onto an aluminum photo plate for printing. Photo by Brad Trone
“You’re fighting to keep the image going, so every one involves a lot of painting. I like to make a little war on the two-dimensional surface. You either win it or lose it. You don’t end the war. You go down fighting.”
—Josh Smith

Installation view of new prints by Josh Smith, 2024

Inquire about works by Josh Smith