LIONEL SMIT
(b. 1982 Pretoria, South Africa) 

Lionel Smit is best known for his contemporary portraiture executed through monumental canvases and sculptures. Perhaps more than anything else, Lionel Smit’s art is defined by a deeply rooted symbiotic relationship between sculpture and painting.

Each of Lionel Smit’s works offers us an entry point into the variety and richness that lies beneath every face we encounter in life, whether applied in bronze or in paint. The blending of techniques across genres is a display of Smit’s work in multiple media, all bearing visible overlap.

His paintings start with abstract lines and swathes of colour that establish a base for the subsequently overlaid image of a face or bust. His work is loaded with both historical and aesthetic precedent; clearly focused on the dialogue between the figurative and expressive abstract. Smit thus translates his own understanding of identity – drawing from images in his daily surrounds.

The artist’s subject matter is consistent. The people he paints or sculpts possess a particular quality that appeals to his visual sensitivity. The sitter’s face acts, quite simply, as a vessel for Smit’s experimentation with colour, stroke and technique.

In recent years, he has continued to expand his sculptural repertoire, creating bodies as well as faces. In both cases, his treatment of bronze reveals it to be especially well-suited to the translation of his painterly activities into sculpture. These works are created using the lost wax casting method – one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques.

Patinas commonly available to artists working in bronze include natural browns, blacks and greens. Smit uses alternative methods that result in a unique fusion of these intensely saturated patinas onto the bronze. Brilliant streaks of blues and greens enrich the grooves of an ear, while the natural shadow of an eyelid is intensified by the deepening of rich black patinas. The style is immediately reminiscent of his paintings. The patination process, focused enthusiasm for surface gradations and brushstroke-like quality of his sculptural crafting are all indicative of his consistently pushing the envelope.

Smit's figures remain highly charged with the emotive and gestural energy of his creative process. His making remains adaptive, inventive, and physically engaging. Through this he has achieved success all over the world including sell-out exhibitions in London and Hong Kong.

Smit's painting has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London where it received the Viewer’s Choice Award, as well as selected as the 'face' of the BP Portrait Award 2013 for all campaigns. He was also honoured with a Ministerial Award from the Department of Culture for Visual Art. A highlight of his career was the publication of one of his paintings on the cover of Christie’s Auction Catalogue. In June 2016, Smit, in collaboration with Cynthia-Reeves Gallery, installed a public art installation, Morphous, in Union Square, New York.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

In Studio, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2024

Encounter, Kube / Uitstalling Gallery, Ghent, Belgium

Formed, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

Irreversible, Everard Read, London

2023

Exposure, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Veil, KUBE Gallery / Uitstalling Art Gallery, Genk

Reflection of Self sculpture, Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, Legacy Museum, Alabama

2022

Interlude, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa

Pendulum, Uitstalling Gallery, Ghent, Belgium

Collide, M Contemporary, Darlinghurst

Morphous sculpture permanent public installation at Kennedy Plaza, Rhode Island

2021

Prelude, Everard Read, London, UK

Discrepancies, Uitstalling Gallery, Ghent, Belgium

2020

Suspended, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa

Reposition, Uitstalling Gallery, Ghent, Belgium

Verso, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

2019    

DESTRUCTURE, Everard Read, London, United Kingdom

2018    

OBSCURA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA

2017    

STATE, Everard Read Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa

EMERGE, M Contemporary, Sydney, Australia

FACES, Everard Read, London, UK

PREMISE, CIRCA, Cape Town, South Africa

2016
New Work, Rook & Raven, Armory Art Week, New York City, USA
Didrichsen Art Museum, Helsinki, Finland
M Contemporary, Sydney, Australia

2015
FNB Jo-burg Art Fair, Everard Read Gallery Booth, Johannesburg, South Africa
Art Miami Fair Featured Artist, Cynthia Reeves Gallery
Close/ Perspective,  Everard Read Johannnesburg, South Africa
Origins, Rook & Raven, London, UK
Obscura, Everard Read Cape Town, South Africa

2014
Morphous,, CIRCA, Johannesburg, South Africa
Cumulus,, Rook & Raven, London, UK

2013
Art Miami Fair, featured artist, Cynthia Reeves, Miami, USA
IS Sculpture, IsArt, Tokara, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Strarta Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery, Rook & Raven, London, UK
Fragmented, Rook & Raven, London, UK
100 Accumulation, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Wonder Works Exhibition, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong

2012
Compendium, , 34FineArt, Cape Town, South Africa
Strata, Rook and Raven, London, UK

2011
Surface, Artspace, Johannesburg,  South Africa

2009
Relate, Grande Provence, Franschhoek, South Africa 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019    

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Art Central Fair, .M Contemporary, Hong Kong

2018    

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa

Sydney Contemporary, with M Contemporary, Sydney, Australia

2017    

Exposed, Helen Day Art Center, Vermont, USA

2016
Opening Gallery Exhibition, CIRCA Gallery Group exhibition, London, UK
Cape Town Art Fair, Everard Read Gallery Booth, Cape Town, South Africa 

2015
Bronze, Steel & Stone, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
FNB Jo-burg Art Fair, Everard Read Gallery Booth, Johannesburg, South Africa

2014
Summer Season, Everard Read Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

2013
BP Portrait Award Exhibition, Viewer’s Choice Award , National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
Metal Work Public sculpture, Stellenbosch, South Africa

2012
Accumulation of Disorder, installation, University of Stellenbosch Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Winter Exhibition, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Robert Bowman Gallery, India Art Fair, India
Joburg Art Fair, Everard Read Gallery Booth, Johannesburg, South Africa

2011
34FineArt, ArtMonaco ‘11, Monaco
MOMAC, Group Exhibition, Roberta Moore Fine Art, England

2010
Out of the Office, Group Exhibition, Kunstmuseum Bochum, Germany
Cynthia Reeves Projects, Art Miami, USA
We are not Witches, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Submerge, solo exhibition, 34FineArt, Cape Town, South Africa

2009
F.A.C.E.T., Charity Auction, Christie’s, London, UK

AWARDS

2013
Visitor's Choice Award, PB Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK
Ministerial Award from Department of Culture for Visual Art, Western Cape Government, South Africa

2009
Merit Award, Vuleka, Sanlam Art Competition, Cape Town, South Africa

2008
Achievement Award, Pro Arte School of Arts, Pretoria, South Africa

2000
First prize in the MTN Art Colours Awards of Gauteng, South Africa

1999/2000
Best painting student Pro Arte School of Arts, Pretoria, South Africa

CATALOGUES

Cumulus LIONEL SMIT, Rook & Raven, London 2014
Formulation LIONEL SMIT, Tokara, Stellenbosch 2013
Accumulation LIONEL SMIT, Everard Read, Johannesburg 2013
Strata LIONEL SMIT, Rook & Raven, London, 2012
Surface LIONEL SMIT, Artspace, Johannesburg 2011
We are not Witches, Saatchi Gallery, London 2011
Submerge LIONEL SMIT, 34FineArt, October 2011
Christie’s, F.A.C.E.T (catalogue cover), October 2009
Residue, Grande Provence Gallery, October 2009
Group therapy, Sandton Civic Gallery, 2005
Pretoria, Everard Read Gallery, November 2004

SELECTED CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Delaire Graff Wine Estate, South Africa
Ellerman Contemporary, South Africa
European Investment Bank, South Africa
Grainvest Futures, South Africa
Johannesburg City Council, South Africa
Johann Jacobs Museum, South Africa
Laurence Graff Collection, South Africa
Parkdev, South Africa
Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa
Saronsberg Wine Estate, South Africa
South African Embassy, Nigeria
Standard Chartered Bank, South Africa