Born in 1979 in Austin, Texas, USA
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Emily Mae Smith creates lively compositions that offer sly social and political commentary, with a nod to distinct historical painting movements, such as symbolism, surrealism, and pop art. Her lexicon of signs and symbols begins with her avatar, an anthropomorphic broomstick figure. Simultaneously referencing the painter’s brush, a domestic tool associated with women’s work, and the phallus, the figure continually transforms across Smith’s body of work. By adopting a variety of guises, the broom and other symbols speak to contemporary subjects, including gender, sexuality, capitalism, and violence.
Smith has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Le Consortium, Dijon, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut.
education
2006 M.F.A. Visual Art, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
2002 B.F.A. Studio Art, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
solo shows
2023
- A Candle Makes Its Own Fuel, CFA Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Habitats, Pond Society, Shanghai, China
2022
- Heretic Lace, Petzel, New York, NY, USA
2021
- Harvesters, Perrotin, Paris, France
- Speculative Objects, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
2020
- Kin, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- Feast and Famine, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA, USA
- Ex Libris, Rockefeller Arts Center, Fredonia, NY, USA
2019
- Avalon, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
- Matrix 181, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, USA
2018
- Le Consortium, Dijon, France
- A Strange Relative, Genesis Belanger & Emily Mae Smith, Perrotin, New York, NY, USA
- Feast of Totems, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
- Henry+Smith, 39 Great Jones, New York, NY, USA
2017
- The Sphinx or The Caress, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- The Little Apocrypha, collaboration Emily Mae Smith & Adam Henry, curated by Samuel Leuenberger and Elise Lammer, SALTS, Birsfelden, Switzerland
2016
- Tesla Girls, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
- Honest Espionage, Mary Mary, Glasgow, UK
2015
- Medusa, Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY, USA
2014
- Novelty Court, Junior Projects. New York, NY, USA
2011
- Neon Sigh, collaboration with Adam Henry, The Arcade, Nashville, TN, USA
group shows
2024
- Styling Identities: Hair’s Tangled Histories, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, USA (forthcoming)
- Long Live Surrealism! 1924 - Today, Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, USA (forthcoming)
2023
- He Said, She Said: Contemporary Women Artists Interject, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
- Hollow Leg, Laurel Gitlen, New York, NY, USA
- Time Travel, Italian Masters through a Contemporary Lens, Petzel, New York, NY, USA
- Room by Room: Concepts, Themes, and Artists in The Rachofsky Collection, The Warehouse, Dallas, TX, USA
2022
- Put It This Way: (Re)Visions of the Hirshhorn Collection, The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
- Sausage Party, Roldophe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
- Out of Body, Out of Mind, The Warehouse, Dallas, TX, USA
- Artists Inspired by Music: Interscope Reimagined, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA, USA
- I'm Stepping High, I'm Drifting, and There I Go Leaping, Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao City, China
2021
- Dark Night of the Soul, Jason Haam, Seoul, South Korea
- Speaking Tree, Candice Madey, New York, NY, USA
- La Bohème, curated by Eric Troncy, Alfonso Artiaco, Naples, Italy
- Figure 9, curated by Ryan Travis Christian, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL, USA
- The Dreamers, 58th October Salon I Belgrade Biennale, Belgrade, Serbia
- Someone said that the world’s a stage, GRIMM, New York, NY, USA
- Bitter Nest, Perrotin, Tokyo, Japan
- Works on paper, Alvaro Barrington, Ellen Berkenblit, Louise Bonnet, Chris Martin, Eddie Martinez, Emily Mae Smith, Betty Tompkins, Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
- Alphabetic Image, Arsenal Contemporary, New York, NY, USA
- Works on paper, Jorge Pardo, Seth Price, Pieter Schoolwerth, Emily Mae Smith, Petzel Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- Nature Morte, The Hole, New York, NY, USA
- Neue Sachlichkeit, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
2020
- ABSTRACTION: between Representation and Non-Representation, Jason Haam, Seoul, South Korea
- TITLE TBD, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
- Myselves, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- A Love Letter to a Nightmare, Petzel Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- Art on the Grid, Public Art Fund, New York, NY, USA
- All of Them Witches, organized by Dan Nadel and Laurie Simmons, Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles, CA, USA
-Second Smile, The Hole, New York, NY, USA
2019
- Personal Private Public, Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY, USA
- Dark Laughter, curated by Barry Schwabsky, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, UK
- Words, Alexander Berggruen Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- The Smiths, Malborough, London, UK
- Home/Work, JDJ | The Ice House, Garrison, NY, USA
- Throwback Jack, curated by Amanda Schmitt, Fredericks & Freiser, New York, NY, USA
- Alternate Realities, Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal, Canada
- Magnetic Fields, curated by Cecilia Alemani, Gió Marconi Gallery, Milan, Italy
- No Patience For Monuments, Perrotin, Seoul, South Korea
- AXxoN N., Essex Flowers, New York, NY, USA
2018
- Summer, curated by Ugo Rondinone, Peter Freeman Inc, New York, NY, USA
- Pine Barrens, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, NY, USA
- Six Artists, Harper’s Books, East Hampton, NY, USA
- The Sun Is Gone But We Have The Light, Unclebrother, Hancock, NY, USA
- Dancing Goddesses, Dio Horia, Mykonos, Greece
- Texas, Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Buddy System, Deanna Evans Projects, Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Herding Cats Again, Catbox Contemporary, Ridgewood, NY, USA
- Tell Him What We Said About Paint It Black, 1 Mile Gallery, Kingston, NY, USA
- The Revolutionary Suicide Mechanised Regiment Band Part 2, Rob Tufnell, London, UK
- The Cruellest Month, Mother Gallery, Beacon, NY, USA
- Harper’s Books at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA, USA
- Any body suspended in space will remain in space until made aware of its situation, Temnikova & Kasela, Tallinn, Estonia
2017
- Engender, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Pharmacy for Idiots, Rob Tufnell, Cologne, Germany
- Women to the Front, Works from the Miller Meigs Collection, Lumber Room, Portland, OR, USA
- Her Eyes Are Like Doves Beside Streams of Water, Adams and Ollman, Portland, OR, USA
- Le Quatrième Sexe, curated by Marie Maertens, Le Coeur, Paris, France
- Sharper Image, Present Company, Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Eyes, Nose, Lips, Etc. Etc., Left Field Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA, USA
2016
- Scarlet Street, Lucien Terras, New York, NY, USA
- Me, Myself, I, China Art Objects Galleries, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Surrreal, König Galerie (St. Agnes), Berlin, Germany
- What’s Up, curated by Lawrence van Hagen, Soho Revue, London, UK
- Untitled Body Parts, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2015
- Unrealism, organized by Jeffrey Deitch and Larry Gagosian, The Moore Building, Miami, FL, USA
- Mrs. Benway, Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, OR, USA
- I Dropped the Lemon Tart, Lisa Cooley, New York, NY, USA
- Six Advertisements, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, NY, USA
- Comic Relief, Levy/Delval, Brussels, Belgium
- Oh, Of Course, You Were Berry Picking, co-organized by Rosa Tyhurst, DREI Galerie, Cologne, Germany
- Six possibilities in painting (int.), curated by Fabian Schöneich and Samuel Leuenberger, Galerie Bernhard, Zurich, Switzerland
2014
- Help Is on the Way, organized by Sean Landers, Wasserman Projects, Birmingham, MI, USA
- Parallax Futured: Transtemporal Subjectivities, Skirball Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA
- Kidnapped, eine Wohnungsausstellung, Petrus Entertainment, Berlin, Germany
2013
- Page 179, Artforum, September 2013, Brennan & Griffin, New York, NY, USA
2012
- Knowledge of the True Games, Know More Games, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2011
- Anonymous Presence, Y Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2010
- Portugal Arte 10 - Portuguese Biennial, Personal Freedom, Lisbon, Portugal
2009
- On From Here, Guild and Greyshkul, New York, NY, USA
2007
- Love in a Cold Climate, curated by Sima Familant and Lisa Schiff, Allston Skirt Gallery, Boston, MA, USA
- The Cement Garden, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2006
- Summer Salon, curated by Kate Werble, Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2005
- The Love Below, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY, USA
public collections
- Albertina Modern, Vienna, Austria
- Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal, Canada
- Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX, USA
- Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH, USA
- Consortium Museum, Dijon, France
- Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX, USA
- Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C., USA
- MOCA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Powerlong Art Museum, Shanghai, China
- Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT, USA
- Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
- Zuzeum Art Centre, Riga, Latvia
