Lucien Smith, multidisciplinary artist and art world fixture of the 2010s, dies at 37
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Set us as preferred Lucien Smith, a multidisciplinary artist who garnered national acclaim in the 2010s, has died at 37.ARTnews first reported news of the artist’s death.
His friend, gallerist Bill Powers, confirmed Smith’s death, telling the outlet, “Lucien lives in a wordless place inside us now.” A cause and place of death have not yet been disclosed.Lucien Smith was born on April 15, 1989, in Los Angeles, the son of artist Terrence Sanders-Smith and fashion designer Vivien Ramsay.
Growing up, he bounced around with his family from place to place, and Smith attended more than a dozen schools before ultimately graduating from Santa Monica High in 2007.He attended college at New York’s Cooper Union and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 2011.
His thesis project, “Imagined Nostalgia,” a reflection on false memories and our nostalgia for eras that we never experienced, caught the eye of New York dealer Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, who started showing Smith’s work at her gallery, Salon 94.“When we met Lucien right after he graduated, in 2011, he was the hub and heart of a burgeoning downtown culture,” Rohatyn told ARTnews.
“Bright, tender, filled with ideas and experimentation — a rare artist with charisma, talent, and the ability to build community.His Rain paintings — made with a fire extinguisher standing in for a rain machine, Lucien himself directing the spray — are now iconic.
He made a batch in my backyard.As well, his Pie paintings, his Seeds, his Ark paintings and Scrap Metal.
His most recent masterpiece was FOOD — together we worked with Max Lamb to build his banquets.We are deeply saddened, and will miss him terribly.”After he graduated, Smith moved into a big red barn on a compound in Upstate New York, which he rented from film director James Ivory.
The space doubl...