Gemma Smith

Gemma Smith (b.1978, Sydney) explores the interaction between colour and surface, intention and chance. She works primarily in painting, while also producing sculpture and site-specific projects. Smith’s process is iterative, playing on the relationship between intuition and control. It involves trial and error, constructive obstruction and self sabotage, and is always open to new possibilities. Colour is subject and content in Smith’s practice; she interrogates its perception and plays with its chromatic rules, always keeping it active. For Smith, the process of painting is about embracing a state of uncertainty.

Since 2000, Smith’s work has featured in more than 100 exhibitions. Recent group exhibitions include Living Patterns, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2023); Australian Art, Storylines, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2022); Know My Name, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2020). In 2019 UNSW Galleries, Sydney, held a retrospective of her work: Rhythm Sequence. Smith has produced several public artworks including Triple Tangle, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia Foyer Commission, Sydney (2018); and Bourke Street Tangle Painting, Sydney (2020). Her work is held in many public and private collections including the National Gallery of Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, and Queensland Art Gallery, Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane. Smith is represented by Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.