Gemma Smith’s work takes the form of both painting and sculpture. Through her explorations of colour theory, pictorial depth and sculptural form, Smith has developed a body of abstract work that both playfully and seriously investigates the shifting pictorial plane. Her early work was based on abstract paintings of crystalline forms exploring geometric and spatial possibilities in jewel-like colours. She explored these forms three-dimensionally in her Adaptables sculptures. Recent paintings have departed from precise geometries and exact their complex colour-play from a combination of spontaneous painterly gesture and hard-edge colour-blocking that tangle and weave together to create intriguing spatial incongruities.

Smith’s work has been included in a number of exhibitions, including the solo exhibitions Weight and Waver, Milani Gallery, Brisbane (2015); PA Paintings, Sarah Cottier Gallery, Sydney (2013); Gemma Smith, Turner Gallery, Perth (2010); Collision and Improvisation, Milani Gallery, Brisbane (2010); and Entanglement Factor, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne. Selected group exhibitions include Quartnerary, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane (2015); Pittsburgh Biennial, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh (2014); AfterPrima PostVera, Australia Council for the Arts, Sydney (2013); Lightness & Gravity: Contemporary Works from the Collection, Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2012); Case Study – Gemma Smith Considers the Work of Margo Lewers, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Penrith, Sydney (2011); Cubism & Australian Art, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2009); Gemma Smith – Entanglement Factor, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne (2009); Primavera, MCA, Sydney (2008); and Contemporary Australia: OPTIMISM, Queensland Art Gallery | Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2008).

Smith’s public artworks include Ceiling Artwork at the Supreme Court and District Court, Brisbane (2011–2012) and Synchro, Adaptable (Red Oxide/Peach) at Brisbane Airport (2010). Her works are held in a number of collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne; Deakin University, Melbourne; and Murdoch University, Perth.

Artist information fsourced from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/artists/gemma-smith/

Image: Gemma Smith Goldens 2018. Acrylic on board 53 x 45 cm