Born in 1972 in Dallas, TX

 EN

Shawn Smith was born in 1972 in Dallas, TX where he attended Arts Magnet High School and Brookhaven College before graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, MO with a BFA in Printmaking in 1995. Smith received his MFA in Sculpture from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2005. He has received artist-in-residencies from the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA, and the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, France. In 1996, Smith was a recipient of the Clare Hart DeGolyer grant from the Dallas Museum of Art. Smith’s work has been exhibited at Hå Gamle Prestegard, National Art and Culture Center of Norway, Gallery Mark Hachem (Paris, France), Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, (Vaasa, Finland), and throughout the United States including the Austin Museum of Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), Dean Lesher Center for the Arts (California), Northwest Art Center (North Dakota), and the Armory Art Center (Florida), among others.

In 2006, Smith was commissioned to create a monumental public sculpture in San Francisco, CA. In 2017, he was commissioned to create Convergence, consisting of 100 sculptures for the new NYPL Westchester Square Library in the Bronx, for which he received a 2018 NYC Excellence in Design Award from the New York Public Design Commission. In July 2019, he installed Burning Bright, a 71-foot-long powder-coated steel panther at Fire Station 42 in Fort Worth, Texas. He is currently in the fabrication phase for an 18-foot-tall pixelated giraffe commissioned by the US Department of State for their Art in Embassies Program.

In addition to his public artworks, Smith has received commissions to create works for many private and corporate clients including Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe, Fidelity Investments, Boston Consulting Group, W Hotels, Frost Bank, and Wired Magazine-UK, among others. His work is in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery in Washington DC, the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the Explora Science Museum in Albuquerque, NM, and the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, TX. His works have also recently been acquired by the Kuntsi Museum of Modern Art, Finland. 

FR

Shawn Smith est né en 1972 à Dallas, Texas, où il a fréquenté l'Arts Magnet High School et le Brookhaven College avant de recevoir son diplôme de la Washington University de St. Louis, avec un Baccalauréat des Beaux-Arts en gravure en 1995. En 2005, Smith obtient son Master des Beaux-arts en Sculpture au California College of Arts de San Francisco. Il bénéficie de résidences d'artiste au Kala Art Institute de Berkeley, en Californie, et à la Cité Internationale des Arts à Paris. En 1996, Smith reçoit la bourse Clare Hart DeGolyer du Dallas Museum of Art. Les œuvres de Smith ont été exposées à Hå Gamle Prestegard, le centre national d'art et de culture de Norvège, à la galerie Mark Hachem (Paris, France), au Musée de l'Art Moderne de Kuntsi (Vaasa, Finlande) et dans tous les États-Unis, notamment au Austin Museum of Art, à l‘Arthouse au Jones Center (Austin), au Galveston Art Center, au Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), à Southern Exposure (San Francisco), au Grand Rapids Art Museum, au Oakland Arts Museum, Berkeley Art Center, Richmond Art Center, di Rosa Art and Nature Preserve (Napa), Dean Lesher Center for the Arts (Californie), Holter Museum of Art (Montana), Northwest Art Center (Dakota du Nord), Lawndale Art Center (Houston), Wichita Falls Museum of Art (Texas), l'Armory Art Center (Floride), Scion Installation Center (Los Angeles), au Grace Museum (Abilene, TX), Artisphere (Arlington, VA) et au McKinney Avenue Contemporary (Dallas), entre autres.

En 2006, Smith a été chargé de créer “Doppel Fountain”, une sculpture publique monumentale à San Francisco.  En 2017, il a été chargé de créer “Convergence”, composé de 100 sculptures pour la nouvelle bibliothèque NYPL Westchester Square dans le Bronx, pour laquelle il a reçu le prix NYC Excellence in Design 2018 de la New York Public Design Commission. En juillet 2019, il a installé “Burning Bright”, une panthère en acier thermolaqué de 21,6 mètres de long à la caserne de pompiers 42 de Fort Worth, au Texas. Toujours en 2019, il a créé “Tower,” une girafe pixelisée de 5,4 mètres de haut, commandée par le Département d'État américain pour son programme Art in Embassies, qui sera installée à Niamey, au Niger.

En plus de ses œuvres d'art public, Smith a reçu des commandes pour créer des œuvres pour de nombreux clients privés et d'entreprise, notamment Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Fidelity Investments, Boston Consulting Group, W Hotels, Frost Bank et Wired Magazine-UK, entre autres. Ses œuvres font partie de la collection permanente de la Renwick Gallery du Smithsonian American Art Museum à Washington DC, du National Museum of Wildlife Art à Jackson Hole, Wyoming, de l'Explora Science Museum à Albuquerque, NM, et du Nasher Sculpture Center à Dallas.