Bio
Carmen Smith is a visual artist based in South Florida. She is an Associate Artist at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami. She holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Richmond, VA, where she was awarded the Academic and Creative Excellence Award. She has participated in more than 15 juried shows and fairs, including the 8th Annual All-Media Juried Biennial (Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, 2017) and Spectrum Art Fair (Miami 2017). She has been part of several group exhibitions including The Portfolio Review Series, Coral Gables Museum (Miami, 2019) and Everything Old Is New Again, Superfine! NYC Art Fair Curated Gallery (New York, 2017). In 2021, she held a solo exhibition, “Night Swimming," at Second Street Gallery (Charlottesville, VA). She recently held her first museum show, "Rushing Down," at the Coral Springs Museum of Art in May 2022.
Artist Statement
Carmen Smith explores how the built environment affects emotional and psychological states. Night Swimming, her current series, evokes a magical, otherworldly playground of glowing pools and colorful buildings. Her compositions are kept simple, while her use of color is exaggerated to elicit an emotional response.
Smith designs her paintings from memories and familiar tropical urban architecture. She pieces together common features of the South Florida urban landscape including modern building facades, pools, balconies, windows, breezeblock, pool slides, and diving boards. Her use of familiar settings invites viewers to explore familiar scenery, while her use of perspective positions them as if they are part of the scene. An exaggeratedly bright, high-contrast color palette explores color as a form of leisure, a more nuanced consideration of how place affects experience, memory, and identity.
CV
Carmen M. Smith
b. 1977, Jacksonville, FL
Education
2005 BFA magna cum laude, Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Richmond, VA
1999 BA, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, Lynchburg, VA
Awards/Honors
2017 Merit Certificate, 6th Annual “Paint Me Miami” Art Competition
2003 Academic and Creative Excellence Award, VCU School of the Arts
2003 Dean’s Scholarship Award, VCU School of the Arts
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Rushing Down, Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, FL May 3-June 18
2021 Night Swimming, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, Apr 2-May 21
Juried Group Exhibitions
2022 Exposed, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL, August 28-September 24
Frank Contemporaries, The Frank C. Ortis Gallery, Pembroke Pines, FL, August 25
Water Glances/Miradas de Agua, Imago, Coral Gables, FL, February 26-May 8
2021 Exposed, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL, August 21-September 25
2020 Exposed, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL, August 29-September 26
2019 The Portfolio Review Series, Coral Gables Museum, Miami, FL, August 2
Topography, Willow Street Gallery, Washington, DC, Mar 9-Apr 14
Sense of Place, Arts Warehouse, Delray Beach, FL, Jan 11-Feb 25 (2 Person exhibition)
2018 Superfine! NYC Art Fair, New York, NY, May 2-6
Civil Rites, Sandrell Rivers Theatre, Miami, FL, January 21-April 4
Art Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, January 24-28
2017 Superfine! Miami, Miami Art Week, Miami, FL, December 6-10
Paint Me Miami, Little Haiti Cultural Center Art Gallery, Miami, FL, September 2-October 7
Everything Old Is New Again, Superfine! NYC Art Fair Curated Gallery, New York, NY, May 4-7
Superfine! NYC Art Fair, New York, NY, May 4-7
8th Annual All-Media Juried Biennial, Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, Hollywood, FL, Jan 21-March 5
2016 Spectrum Miami, Miami Art Week, Miami, FL, November 30-December 4
Bibliography
Chacon, Katherine, “Miradas de Agua,” El Nacional (Venezuela), April 2022
Oz, Joe, “Conversation Pieces,” Brickell Magazine, Art Basel Edition, December 2021
Granfield, Caitlin, “Next Big Thing,” Indulge Miami Magazine, Art Basel Edition, December 2017-January 2018
Galeano, Christie, “Four Broward Based Artists Will Showcase Their Work at Art Basel,” Gold Coast Magazine, December 2017
“Local Artists Take Center Stage at Art and Soul,” Sun Sentinel, March 29, 2017
“Become At Home With Art,” Miami Art Guide, November 2016, Miamiartguide.com
Affiliations
2017 – Present, Associate Artist, Bakehouse Artist Complex, Miami, F