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Zak Smith is an artist who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Born in Syracuse, NY, in 1976, he grew up in Washington, DC, where he attended a magnet school for the arts. He received a BFA from Cooper Union in New York City in 1998 and an MFA from Yale University in 2001. Contemporary artist Zak Smith was born in Syracuse, NY, in 1976. He grew up in Washington, DC, where he attended a magnet school for the arts. After receiving a BFA from Cooper Union in New York City in 1998, he studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and went on to receive an MFA from Yale University in 2001. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.


Smith's body of work primarily comprises portraits and illustrations executed in acrylic and ink. An enduring interest in comic books informs the artist's dynamic and obsessively detailed depictions of the people, objects, and stories that populate his world. Allied with punk and hardcore culture and the DIY aesthetic associated with these movements, Smith draws on traditions of decorative art to produce visually complex, labor-intensive pictures characterized by intricate patterns and vivid coloration.
His intricate works move from sharply rendered poignancy to candy-colored excess. Within a general atmosphere of a dazed freneticism, he offers uncanny and excessive painted portraits, synthetically luminous abstractions, drawings, and experimental photographs. Zak Smith's
Illustrations
For Each Page
of Gravity's Rainbow were included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial.


Smith is best known for his portraits of female subjects - with an emphasis on the erotic as well as the mundane aspects of his subjects' lives - and his page-by-page illustrations for <em>Gravity's Rainbow</em>. The book <em>Zak Smith: Pictures of Girls</em>, released by Distributed Art Publishers in 2005, includes selected plates from the series Girls in the Naked Girl Industry, 100 Girls and 100 Octopuses, and One Picture for Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel <em>Gravity's Rainbow</em>, in addition to stand-alone pieces from the period 2000-2005. Tin House Books is scheduled to release in 2006 a book of the <em>Gravity's Rainbow</em> illustrations, which were featured in the 2004 <em>Whitney Biennial</em> at the Whitney Museum of American Art and are now in the collection of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN.


Other public collections containing Smith's work include the Museum of Modern Art and the Progressive Corporation in Mayfield, OH. The artist is represented by Fredericks & Freiser in New York City.

View works by Zak Smith online:

View articles about Zak Smith online:

Revision as of 08:19, 18 February 2006

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Contemporary artist Zak Smith was born in Syracuse, NY, in 1976. He grew up in Washington, DC, where he attended a magnet school for the arts. After receiving a BFA from Cooper Union in New York City in 1998, he studied at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and went on to receive an MFA from Yale University in 2001. He lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Smith's body of work primarily comprises portraits and illustrations executed in acrylic and ink. An enduring interest in comic books informs the artist's dynamic and obsessively detailed depictions of the people, objects, and stories that populate his world. Allied with punk and hardcore culture and the DIY aesthetic associated with these movements, Smith draws on traditions of decorative art to produce visually complex, labor-intensive pictures characterized by intricate patterns and vivid coloration.

Smith is best known for his portraits of female subjects - with an emphasis on the erotic as well as the mundane aspects of his subjects' lives - and his page-by-page illustrations for Gravity's Rainbow. The book Zak Smith: Pictures of Girls, released by Distributed Art Publishers in 2005, includes selected plates from the series Girls in the Naked Girl Industry, 100 Girls and 100 Octopuses, and One Picture for Each Page of Thomas Pynchon's Novel Gravity's Rainbow, in addition to stand-alone pieces from the period 2000-2005. Tin House Books is scheduled to release in 2006 a book of the Gravity's Rainbow illustrations, which were featured in the 2004 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art and are now in the collection of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN.

Other public collections containing Smith's work include the Museum of Modern Art and the Progressive Corporation in Mayfield, OH. The artist is represented by Fredericks & Freiser in New York City.

View works by Zak Smith online: Illustrations for Gravity's Rainbow Fredericks & Freiser profile of the artist Zak Smith's Site

View articles about Zak Smith online: May 2002 ArtForum review by Martha Schwendener September 2002 feature in TimeOut New York 2004 profile in the catalogue of the Whitney Biennial</em