Solo Show by John Smith Opens at the Royal College of Art
LONDON.- The Royal College of Art presents a survey exhibition of John Smith’s practice with supporting programme of talks and events.
For the first time in the 18-year history of the RCA Curating Contemporary Art MA programme, final year students have decided to present a solo exhibition as their graduate project. Opening on 19 March, this will be the largest UK show by the pioneering east London based artist and filmmaker John Smith.
John Smith, Solo Show. Film, video and installation work 1972-2010. All works Courtesy of the artist, LUX and Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin
Much loved for their wit, formal ingenuity and use of storytelling, Smith’s films are as much influenced by the humour of Monty Python as the theories of avant-garde filmmaking. Acknowledging that much of Smith’s work has rarely been shown in a gallery context, a comprehensive selection will be shown together in the RCA galleries.
This exhibition offers an opportunity for Smith to return to the RCA where he began making films as a student in the 1970s. The artist will work closely with the students to create an exhibition that reveals the multiple sensibilities which run throughout his practice. Rarely seen early films will be shown in the company of more recent work and the exhibition design will emphasise the narrative and structural devices used within Smith’s work.
John Smith was born in London in 1952 and studied film at the Royal College of Art. Since 1972 he has made over forty film, video and installation works that have been shown in cinemas, art galleries and on television throughout the world and awarded major prizes at many international film festivals. His solo exhibitions include Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2006), Kunstmuseum Magdeburg (2005), Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool (2003) and Pearl Gallery, London (2003). He regularly presents his work in person and in recent years it has been profiled through retrospectives at the 2007 Venice Biennale and film festivals in Oberhausen, Cork, Tampere, Uppsala, Bristol, Regensburg, Glasgow and La Rochelle. John Smith lives and works in London. He teaches part-time at the University of East London where he is Professor of Fine Art. He is represented by Tanya Leighton Gallery in Berlin and his work is distributed by LUX, London.
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