Name: Shinique Smith
Age: 43
Occupation: Artist
City/Neighborhood: Upstate New York
Your upcoming show at the Boston MFA is a mini retrospective of sorts, with 30 pieces spanning the last ten years. What is it like to see a decade’s worth of work in one place?
Seeing this arrangement of my work is personal “proof” that a distinct line of energy has been consistent and true through these years of my artistic practice. Moving through the space, I am filled with memories of making, the materials used in each work and the spaces where I created them.
Feelings well up of pride and discovery as I see these works with a fresh eye and realize that what I wanted to convey was expressed, and that the work is strong. The latter is sometimes harder for me to admit. All these memories and realizations lead me to my next steps in the studio.
The show will also include more than a dozen new pieces that span painting, sculpture, full-room installation, video, and performance. Have you been experimenting with working in different materials lately? Or has this always been part of your practice?
Yes and no. I’m working with new materials and returning to ideas within the video, sound, installation and performance that I was experimenting with over a decade ago in undergrad and grad school. Now I am able to infuse new works with knowledge and experience I’ve gained over the years.
You will also make a public mural in Boston’s Dewey Square Park. Do you approach making such public works differently than other artworks?
I approach public works with the same considerations of space, composition and energy as in all my works. I am, however, more conscious of the viewer’s or the community’s presence in making a public work and how the work might connect to the environment in which it exists.
What project are you working on now?
“BRIGHT MATTER” at the MFA, the Mural for the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy, a mural project for UCSF in San Francisco, and developing a show for 2015 with The Center of the Arts at Virginia Tech.
What’s the last show that you saw?
“Carrie Mae Weems – Three Decades of Photography and Video” at the Guggenheim. The show was inspiring and moving for me, as I’ve loved her work since I was a young person interested in becoming an artist. And I was honored that Carrie Mae invited me to participate in a three-day presentation of a number of artists, poets, musicians and innovators whom she found inspiring that occurred during her exhibition. That kind of open dialogue and support toward other artists is something to strive toward.
Describe a typical day in your life as an artist.
I wake, make coffee, and feed the cat. I go to the studio and look at what I’ve been working on. Then I either answer emails or begin working directly, depending on where the inspiration leads me. I go for walks outside and draw inspiration from the scenery of our country home. I spend time with my fiancé, watch TV, read or surf the net. Go to bed and if I can’t sleep, I go back to work.
Do you make a living off your art?
Yes
What’s the most indispensable item in your studio?
My brushes.
Where are you finding ideas for your work these days?
Everywhere – travel sites, Young Adult fiction, poetry – lately Audre Lorde, classic musicals, interior design and garden planning, Feng Shui, fashion and many other sources.
Do you collect anything?
Fabric, paper, flattened cans, dollhouses, My Little Ponies, sci-fi, comic book or fantasy related action figures, seascape paintings, art and small random found objects with landscapes like a bottle cap, matchbook cover, puzzle piece or coin.
What is your karaoke song?
“What’s up” by 4 Non Blondes, “The Beautiful Ones” by Prince, “Love Rears its Ugly Head” by Living Colour.
What’s the last artwork you purchased?
A Melvin Martinez painting
What’s the first artwork you ever sold?
I sold a number of drawings to my mother and her friends when I was younger, and early in my career I sold a few works in group shows, but my first significant sale was when the Rubell family purchased three works at an important transitional moment in my practice. Since then, they’ve traveled the works extensively in a show of art from their collection called “30 Americans.”
What’s your favorite post-gallery watering hole or restaurant?
In NY, Tequila Chito’s in Chelsea. In LA, Soho House. In Miami, The Seven Seas for karaoke, and in Boston, City Table at The Lenox Hotel.
Do you have a gallery/museum-going routine?
Not really, because I spend most of my time in the country and in the studio. I go when I can, when a friend has a show or if there’s an artist or show I am interested in.
What’s the last great book you read?
Therese Raquin by Emile Zola.
What work of art do you wish you owned?
Wow…there are many, but there are artists I know whose work I really would like to own. It’s a long list, but a few on that list would be Xenobia Bailey, Joanne Greenbaum, Erika Ranee and an Ann Craven deer painting or a Fred Tomaselli, Leonardo Drew or Jacob Hashimoto work.
What would you do to get it?
Trade if they were interested.
What international art destination do you most want to visit?
Johannesburg and Sao Paolo – soon.
Who’s your favorite living artist?
Too many to list.
What are your hobbies?
Does shopping online count as a hobby?
