Artist to Create Installation in University Galleries

New York City artist Shinique Smith will create a site-specific installation - painting and collaging elements onto plywood panels installed on the gallery walls - to be shown Feb. 16 to March 28 in the University Galleries at Illinois State University.  Admission is free and open to the public.

Smith will give a guest artist lecture at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, in room 145 of the Center for the Visual Arts Gallery.  The opening reception will follow her lecture from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Galleries.  The reception will coincide with the opening reception for TASK +, an exhibition of Oliver Herring's photos, videos and photo-sculptures.

In creating the installation, Smith will use objects found in the local community, including discarded rugs and lamps, to transform the gallery space.  Her installations envelop the viewer in an energetic burst of painting inspired by Japanese calligraphy, Abstract Expressionism and graffiti, punctuated by discarded clothing and objects. T hese pieces tie ecological themes of accumulation, disposal and waste to elements of popular culture and the artist's personal narrative.

Smith is an MFA and BFA graduate of The Maryland Institute College of Art.  Her work has received critical attention in The New York Times, Artforum, The New Yorker, The Village Voice, ARTNews and Art in Americas and has been included in exhibitions at the New Museum, New York; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; and the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.