David B. Smith | Sampler
January 21 ‒ March 3, 2018
PLANTHOUSE IS PLEASED to announce a solo exhibition featuring the works of Brooklyn- based artist David B. Smith. Sampler is inspired by Say a Little Prayer for U.S., Planthouse’s 2017 exhibition of artist-made prayer flags, and Smith’s practice of collecting and saving scraps of fabric left over from the soft sculpture and fabric collages that comprise his larger works. By cutting the fabric into roughly equally sized rectangles or ‘flags’ and embroidering them with layered patterns, shapes and textures, they echo organic systems like blood flow, memory, social structures, geography, migration, and mapmaking. These works suggest infinite future realities, where difference and commonalities can be observed and playfully layered. By arranging a constellation of small, medium, and large flags in the space, the systems blend together to form a cacophonous yet harmonic environment where the viewer can experience interconnected worlds, each with their own logic, structure, and identity.
David Benjamin Smith (b. Washington, DC) is a multidisciplinary artist and third generation immigrant of Ashkenazic descent who lives in Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY) and holds an MFA from Bard College. He was awarded a 2020 NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Craft/Sculpture, and residencies with Apex Art, New Zealand; Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota; Marble House Project, Vermont; I-Park, Connecticut; Textile Arts Center, Socrates Sculpture Park, Millay Arts, Alfred University, and the BOFFO residency, in New York. Smith’s work has appeared in exhibitions at MoMA PS1, The International Center of Photography, Johannes Vogt Gallery, Museum Rijswijk, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Asia Song Society, with solo shows at Geary Contemporary, Planthouse, Spring Break Art / Show, Halsey McKay Gallery in New York, and David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, CO (a different David B. Smith). Another World: The Textile Art of David B. Smith was on view in 2020-21 at Millersville University in Lancaster, PA, and SUNY Old Westbury in Long Island, NY. He designed a digital interactive version to accompany Another World, enabling him to engage the students during the pandemic. His work is in the collections of Peggy Cooper Cafritz, Beth Rudin DeWoody, and Yale University, and has been discussed in The Observer, VICE, Time Out, The Washington Post, and the New York Times.
