Lucien Smith
American artist (1989–2026)
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Lucien Marc Smith (April 15, 1989 – September 7, 2026) was an American multidisciplinary artist best known for his abstract works and diverse projects. A graduate of the Cooper Union, he was twice featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 in the category of "Art & Style".[1][2] Smith was called a "wunderkind" by The New York Times.[3] He exhibited at galleries such as Skarstedt and Salon 94,[4] and his work was the subject of solo exhibitions mounted at major museums. His collaborations spanned across creative fields, including partnerships with artists such as Virgil Abloh.[5] He hosted a pop-up art show at which Travis Scott performed[6] and directed a short film narrated by Glenn O'Brien, which was shown at Gagosian Gallery in New York City.[7] Smith was the Inga Maren Otto Fellow in residence at The Watermill Center in 2019.[8]
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April 15, 1989
Lucien Smith | |
|---|---|
Smith in 2021 | |
| Born | Lucien Marc Smith April 15, 1989 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | September 7, 2026 (aged 37) New York, U.S. |
| Education | The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art |
| Known for | Painting |
| Patrons | |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
Smith was born in Los Angeles on April 15, 1989.[9] He was the son of African-American artist Terrence Sanders-Smith and Filipina fashion designer Vivien Ramsay.[9][10][11] He attended Santa Monica High School, graduating in 2007.[9] Smith later graduated with a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art in 2011.[12]
Ventures
In 2017, Smith launched Serving the People (STP), an organization building the future of creativity, collaboration, and communication. Guided by a network of creatives and technologists, STP aims to rebuild the infrastructure for cultural participation.[13][14]
Also in 2017, Smith turned his Los Angeles studio into a creative project space called Appointment Only. Appointment Only was designed to host garage rock musical performances and events. It also featured a dedicated residency program for guest artists to create and display exhibitions.[15]
In 2021, Smith was appointed Director of the Cultural Innovation Lab at Lobus, an NFT-oriented equity management firm for artists and collectors. In this role, he pitched artists on using blockchain technology to manage their assets.[16] Later in 2021, he released an NFT collection titled Seeds via Lobus.[17]
In 2025, Smith opened a restaurant called FOOD, located in New York Chinatown. Styled as a modern reimagination of the 1970s FOOD, –"a living artwork; a messy, social, affordable place where artists could actually be together"– with canteen style dining and artists as servers, the restaurant closed indefinitely after his death following a memorial dinner service on September 8.[18][19]
Health issues and death
According to his father, Smith started drinking and doing drugs back in high school.[20] Sanders-Smith remarked that while his son was at Cooper Union, Aurel Schmidt, who was Lucien's girlfriend at the time, called him to inform that Smith had been "doing a lot of heroin".[20] Smith gave a TedTalk at Columbia College in 2014, in which he admitted to consuming PCP.[21] In an interview with Kenny Schachter in 2021, Smith talked about his struggles with substance abuse: "I'm a chronic relapser. I shouldn't drink or do drugs. If you're reading this, don't give me drugs if you see me."[22]
Smith died in New York on September 7, 2026, at the age of 37.[23]
Art market
Artsy estimated in 2014 that Smith generated a total of $3.7 million at auction that year.[24]
Smith was associated with other young painters, such as Oscar Murillo and Jacob Kassay, whose work appreciated rapidly and were favored by collectors for investment-ready fare.[25] A work bought for $10,000 from Smith's 2011 Cooper Union graduate show was resold in November 2013 for $389,000.[25] In February 2014, his work Two Sides of the Same Coin sold for £224,500 at a Sotheby's auction in London.[26]
By 2015, the art market had cooled down and Smith's art's sale value fell from six-figure peaks down to as low as $17,600.[27][28]
Artworks
Rain Paintings
In 2011, Smith executed a suite of abstractions he called Rain Paintings, which he created by spraying fire extinguishers filled with paint.[29] In 2014, an example of these works titled Two Sides of the Same Coin sold at Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Auction London's first lot for $372,000 against an estimate of $66,000–99,000.[30][31]
Camo Paintings
In 2014, Smith produced Tigris, a show of 11 camouflage-patterned abstract paintings, inspired by the recollection of the first work of art that strongly impacted him—Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa.[32][25] The critic Christian Viveros-Fauné described the exhibit as "undistinguished" and "a shrewd career move".[25]
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
- Delay of Game, Tripoli Gallery, Montauk, New York, 2026[a]
- Burn Down the House, Kearsey & Gold, London, UK, 2026[33]
- A Day Above Ground is a Good One, Kapp Kapp, New York, 2024[34]
- People are Strange, Willshott Gallery, New York, 2024[35]
- Handyman, Lucien Smith Studio, New York, 2024[36]
- Incidentals: A Brief Survey 2011–2021, Half Gallery, New York, 2021[37]
- Secret Garden, Over the Influence, Hong Kong, 2021[38]
- Southampton Suite, Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, New York, 2020[23]
- Lucien Smith Curated by Bill Powers, Half Gallery, Paris, France, 2019[39]
- Tulips!, The Fireplace Project, Amagansett, New York, 2018[39]
- "Friends", Empty Gallery, New York, 2018[39]
- Cosmas & Damian, Moran Bondaroff, Los Angeles, 2017[39]
- Ship of Fools, Appointment Only, Los Angeles, 2017[39]
- Allergic to Morning, Moran Bondaroff, Los Angeles, 2016[40]
- Vicious Cycles, Surf Lodge, Montauk, 2016[39]
- Tigris, Skarstedt, New York, 2014[39]
- Nature is my Church, Salon 94, New York, 2013[39]
- Scrap Metal, Bill Brady / KC, Kansas City, 2013[39]
- A Clean Sweep, Suzanne Geiss, Co., New York, 2013[39]
- Good Vibrations, Half Gallery, New York, 2012[40]
- Seven Rain Paintings, OHWOW Gallery, Los Angeles, 2012[40]
- Needle in the Hay and Cripple Creek, Ritter-Zamet, London, 2011[39]
- Imagined Nostalgia, Cooper Union, New York, 2011[39]
Group exhibitions
- 20th Annual Thanksgiving Collective: Breaking Bread, Tripoli Gallery, Wainscott, New York, 2024[41]
- The Smiths, Marlborough Gallery, London, 2019[39]
- Snarl of Twine, Magenta Plains, New York, 2018[42]
- MIDTOWN, curated by Jeanne Greenberg and Michele Maccarone, Lever House, New York, 2017[39]
- LA IntersecCons, Fabien Castanier Gallery, Los Angeles, California, 2017[39]
- Fake News, CES Gallery, Los Angeles, California, 2017[39]
- Family Dinner, Lep Field Gallery, San Luis Obispo, California, 2017[39]
- Intimate Paintings, Half Gallery, New York, 2015[40]
- Matters of Pattern, Skarstedt, New York, 2015[40]
- Prospect New Orleans, curated by Franklin Sirmans, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, 2014[40]
- Next, Arsenal, Montréal, Canada, 2014[40]
- ANAMERICANA, curated by Vincenzo de Bellis, American Academy in Rome, Rome, 2013[40]
- The Writing is on the Wall, Jonathan Viner, London, 2013[40]
- Sunsets and Pussy, with Ed Ruscha, Betty Tompkins and Piotr Uklanksi, Marianne Boesky, New York, 2013[40]
- Merci Mercy, curated by Christine Messineo, 980 Madison Avenue, New York, 2013[40]
- Beyond the Object, Brand New Gallery, Milan, 2013[40]
- It Ain't Fair 2012, OHWOW Gallery, Miami Beach, 2012[40]
- Here Comes, Mark Fletcher, New York, 2012[40]
- Homebody, The Stillhouse Group, Brooklyn, 2011[40]
- It Ain't Fair: Materialism, OHWOW Gallery, Miami, 2011[40]
- Black Eye, curated by Nicola Vassell, 54 Crosby St, New York, 2011[40]
- Jack Siegel and Lucien Smith: Imagined Nostalgia, Cooper Union, New York, 2011[40]
- Objects that Love You Back, curated by Grear Patterson, Stillhouse, New York, 2010[40]
- It Ain't Fair 2010, OHWOW Gallery, Miami, 2010[40]
- While It Lasts, The Still House Group, New York, 2010[43]
- New Deal, curated by Kyle Thurman and Matt Moravec, Art Production Fund Gallery, New York, 2009[40]
- May Flowers, curated by Scott Keightley, New York, 2009[40]
- I want a little sugar in my bowl, curated by Terence Koh, ASS Gallery, New York, 2009[40]
- Stillhouse, Seven Eleven Gallery, New York, 2008[40]