Paul Smith
My work documents my interest in the lost and the found, what is passing out of memory and what is synthesized as trace in the landscape. Exploring lost places and capturing the essence of a moment of abandonment has been part of my practice since my earliest work, photographing the post-industrial landscape of the North East. More recently I have used these explorations of localities on the verge of returning to unofficial wilderness in dialogue with found material. Working between these two sources has informed a broader turn in my works to consider layerings and cuttings: the process of collage by which territory is shaped into landscape by human action.
Selected Exhibitions
2023
Chambers, Don’t Walk Walk Gallery, Deal Castle
X, British Contemporary Painting, Newcastle
Solo exhibition, Art at Home, Twickenham
2022
Uncertain Promises: The Unofficial George Eliot Countryside, One Paved Court, Richmond upon Thames (solo exhibition)
Wish You Were Here, Terrace Gallery, London
The Pleasure Principle, Don’t Walk Walk Gallery, Deal (solo exhibition)
The Space Between, Graham Hunter Gallery, London
2021
A Generous Space, Artist Support Pledge, Hastings Contemporary
Are You Leaving For the Country?, Muse Gallery, Portobello Rd, London (solo exhibition)
Don’t Walk Walk Gallery Arts Festival, Deal Castle
Paul Smith, Fittleworth Gallery, West Sussex (solo exhibition)
Supernature 3, Kaleidoscope Gallery, Sevenoaks
2020
Summer Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
Don’t Walk Walk Gallery, Deal
Supernature 2, Rye Creative Centre, Rye
2019
Supernature, Paint Lounge at The Auxilliary, Middlesbrough
Pack Mentality, Don’t Walk Walk Gallery, Deal
Two Fold, Oceans Apart, OA Studios, Salford
Jackson’s Open Painting Prize, AAF, Battersea, London
Out of Place, One Paved Court, Richmond Upon Thames
2018
The Staithes Paintings, Staithes Studios Gallery, Staithes, North Yorkshire (solo exhibition)
Field Notes - Painting the Anthropocene, Paul Smith & Katharine Le Hardy, One Paved Court, Richmond Upon Thames
Twice as Nice, PS Mirabel, Manchester
Paper Cuts, Kristian Day, Saatchi Gallery, London
My Muybridge, Kingston Museum, Kington Upon Thames
Painting Open 2018, No Format Gallery & Deptford Does Art, London
Curator’s Selection, Wembley Park Second Floor Studios, London
Edinburgh Art Fair & York Art Fair with Staithes Studios Gallery
Summer Exhibition, Don’t Walk Walk at No Format Gallery, Deptford, London
2017
This is This, Don't Walk Walk Gallery, Deal, Kent (solo exhibition)
The Discerning Eye 2017, Mall Galleries, London
Paper Cuts, Kristian Day, Tripp Gallery, London
Second Floor Studios Annual Open, No Format Gallery, London
Small World, PS MIrabel, Manchester
Painting (Now), Studio One Gallery, London
Three100, No Format Gallery, London
Launch Event, Don't Walk Walk Gallery, Deal, Kent
Launch Event, Why Not Art, The Crown, London
2016
Noise Rings, The Maltings, Farnham (solo exhibition)
Paper Cuts, Kristian Day, Transition Gallery, London
The Discerning Eye 2016, Mall Galleries, London
Contemporary British Painting Prize 2016, Richmond Riverside Gallery (Sept - Oct) and Huddersfield Art Gallery (Nov-Feb 2017)
Undead Painters Flash Salon II, ASC Bond House Gallery, London
Anagrams, Kingston Museum, Kingston Upon Thames
2015
Neo Art Prize, Neo Gallery 27, Bolton
Griffin Gallery Open, The Griffin Gallery, London
Shortlisted, The Gallery at Handmade Frames, Teddington
Channeling, The Institution of Art & Ideas, Hay on Wye
Surface Tension, The Architect's Gallery, Teddington
Pop Living, The Schwartz Gallery, London
Outside In, The Baxter Gallery, Kingston Upon Thames
2014
The Ice House, Sanctuary Gallery, Northampton (solo exhibition)
The Zeitgeist Open 2014, Bond House Gallery, London
AAF Battersea, JAMM, London
The Time of Yellow, Project Gallery, Arundel
20x20, Sanctuary Gallery Open, Sanctuary Gallery, Northampton
2013
Vanishing Points, Gallery cueB, London (solo exhibition)
The Zeitgeist Open 2013, Bond House Gallery, London
LCB Takeover, LCB Depot & Fresh Meat Gallery, Leicester
Fresh Meat Gallery Open, Cornflake, London
Open cueB, Gallery cueB, London
2012-
Crash Open Salon, Charlie Dutton Gallery, London (2012)
Diffraction, Nolias Gallery, London (2012)
All Around You, The Architect's Gallery, Teddington (2012)
Paul Smith, VZ Gallery, London (solo exhibition, 2011)
DJ Selection, Duckett & Jeffreys Gallery, Malton (2011)
Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts Arts, London (2010)
Imperfect Recall, The Architect's Gallery, Teddington (2010) - guest curator
Real and Unreal, The Architect's Gallery, Teddington (2009)
People and Places, The Architect's Gallery, Teddington (2009)
New Beginnings, Diesel House Studios, London (2008)
Spirit of Llyn, Oriel Plas Glyn-Y-Weddw Gallery, Llanbedrog, Wales (2006)
Wilderness, Lecht Ski Centre, Cairngorm National Park, Scotland (2006)
Awards and Competitions
2019 Jackson’s Open Painting Prize
Selected by Andrew Bick, Kerry Ann Lee, Tom Down, Haidee-Jo Summers, Yves Blais and Jennifer Conner
2016 Contemporary British Painting Prize
Group show selected by practising painters Simon Burton, Nathan Eastwood, Terry Greene, Susie Hamilton, Matthew Krishanu and Freya Purdue.
The Prize Winner selection panel judges for 2016: Michael Peppiatt (owner and publisher of Art International 1985-1995 and since 2010 board member of the Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome), Amanda Geitner (Senior Curator of the Sainsbury Centre, 1998-2015 and Director East Anglian Art Fund), Paul O’Kane (member of the Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art and regular contributor to Art Monthly), Grant Scanlan (Huddersfield Art Gallery) and Sophie Cummings (Curator of Swindon Art Gallery and Museum).
2016 Jackson's Open Art
Selected by Carlos de Lins, Hillary Daltry. Hugo Grenville, James Hobbs, Paul Bell and Sarah Sparkes
2016 Anagrams - Judges's Choice
2015 Neo Art Prize
Selected by Ian Davenport, Amira Gad (Serpentine Gallery), Margot Heller (South London Gallery) and Helen Pheby (Yorkshire Sculpture Park)
2015 Windsor and Newton Painting Prize
Selected by Ian Davenport, Nigel Hurst (Saatchi Gallery) and Becca Pelly-Fry (Griffin Gallery)
2015 Dulux Let's Make Colour Awards
Nominee, Contribution to Colour in the Arts
2014 Zeitgeist Open Exhibition
Selected by Andrew Bick, Juan Bolivar, Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley
2014 First Prize, Sanctuary Gallery Open
2013 First Prize, Open cueB, Gallery cueB
2013 Zeitgeist Open Exhibition
Selected by Graham Crowley, Susan Collis, Rosalind Davis and Annabel Tilley
2012 Crash Open Salon, Charlie Dutton Gallery
Selected by Mathew Collings (art writer, broadcaster, artist), Ceri Hand (Ceri Hand Gallery), Fiona MacDonald (Standpoint Gallery), Sarah Rowles (Q-ART)
Residencies
Staithes Studios Gallery, January 2018