Gemma Smith facts for kids

Gemma Smith (born in 1978) is an Australian artist. She creates both paintings and sculptures. Gemma lives and works in Sydney. She is famous for always trying new things with colors and abstract art. Her artworks are found in museums and private collections all over Australia.

Early Life and Art School

Gemma was born in Sydney, Australia. She lived there until 2004. Then, she moved to Brisbane and stayed there until 2012. After that, she spent two years in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States. Today, she lives and works back in Sydney.

Gemma studied art at two universities. In 1999, she earned a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Sydney College of the Arts. In 2004, she completed an honors year at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane.

Her Artworks

Gemma Smith is an artist who makes abstract art. This means her art does not show real-life objects. Instead, it uses shapes, colors, and lines. Even though abstract art became popular a long time ago, Gemma believes it is still very exciting. She uses both sharp, geometric shapes and soft, organic (nature-like) forms in her work.

In her early paintings, Gemma created shapes that looked like crystals. She used bright colors to explore how shapes and colors fit together. Later, she started making these shapes into three-dimensional sculptures. As her art changed, her paintings began to feature bands of color. These bands were woven together with free brush strokes. She used color to create surprising spaces in her art.

Her first sculptures were made from airplane plywood. They had hinges, so people could fold them. This allowed viewers to interact with the art, not just look at it.

Some of her newer sculptures are simple folded metal shapes. They are often just one color. These remind people of artworks by famous artists like Alexander Calder and Ellsworth Kelly. Gemma works very hard on her paintings. She often paints over old works because she only keeps about one out of ten paintings she makes. In her most recent paintings (from 2017 onwards), she uses softer colors. She often spreads these colors in layers to hide her brushstrokes. She is always trying new things!

Gemma has also created large artworks for public places. These include a Ceiling Artwork at the Supreme Court in Brisbane (2011–2012). She also made Synchro, Adaptable (Red Oxide/Peach) at Brisbane Airport (2010). In 2018, Gemma finished Triple Tangle. This was a huge mural with loops of color. The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in Sydney asked her to create it for their entry stairs. Gemma's constant experimenting is clear in what she said about Triple Tangle:

"I essentially made the painting three times. Initially, I painted my lines ten centimeters thick and it didn’t work in the space – they were too spindly – and then I remade the entire work at twelve centimeters – they weren’t weighty enough – and then I did it again at thirteen centimeters, and it was just right."

Awards

• 2024 Mosman Art Prize for her painting called Pollen Prism. It was made with synthetic polymer paint on linen.

Art Collections

Gemma's art is part of many important collections. You can find her work at the National Gallery of Australia, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Exhibitions

In 2009, Gemma had her own art show at the Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces in Melbourne. In 2011, she was an Artist in Residence at the Turner Galleries in Perth, where she also had a solo exhibition. In 2019, the School of Art & Design at UNSW held a special show of her work called "Rhythm Sequence."